Nice towns near Ramstein

My wife and I are moving to the Ramstein area in January. We lived previously southwest of Munich and grew accustomed to small, beautiful German villages. I know the Ramstein area has thousands of Americans and we really want to live in a village that is predominantly German. Being near the hiking trails in the Naturpark would be huge plus. Small village with nice Biergarten is a major plus as well. Being able to walk to the market, bank, etc another huge plus.

Lastly, I am hoping for no more than a 15 minute commute.

thanks,

brian

Hi. I work at RAB and live about 20 minutes (19 km) away. Just drive 62 either direction (towards Trier [North] or Pirmasens [South])and you will find lots of nice villages. The base housing office will give you a map that shows everything within a 30 minute commute. Unless you live right off base (Mackenbach, Ramstein Village, Landstuhl, etc) you will find nice villages with a good mix. I am in Hermersberg. It's mostly German and there are miles of trails through fields and forests. Great for walking my dogs or bike rides. Enjoy

You could also do a search here, and find the prev. thread covering the same topic which gives a lists of good villages in the area.

Thanks for the info. I had seen the other thread. Good info, but was hoping for more specific info. For instance, in Bavaria, we were accustomed to every town having a Sparkasse and/or Volksbank, deli, apotheke and small grocery market. Was hoping to find some towns that are set up similarly. I put all the towns recommended in that other post on google maps and there is an interesting pattern. They seem to cluster into 2 main areas.

thanks,

brian

Yea that was my post, I was trying to stay in that fold between the two autobahns moving south/southwest from our place of work/school ... Landstuhl. What I was hoping for was for someone to give some sort of impression/insight into that area and what I can expect living in one of those towns as an American family.

My family lives in Martinshohe, it is about 15 min from Ramstein AB, Landstuhl is about 8 min away. It has a wonderful bakery with small market, the egg and poultry truck comes through the village to deliver, there is a Sparkasse, pub, lots of trails for hiking and biking, a couple of parks, beautiful views, and friendly people. There are some other Americans living here, but isn't "Little America" like some villages closer to the bases. I have friends living in Wallhalben, and it is bigger than Martinshohe, but a little farther out, but has an Edeka market, and also has a couple of nicer restaurants. All of the villages around this area are quaint and quite nice, and we are glad to be here instead of closer in by the bases. The housing office lists homes for rent and also check out the kaiserslauternamerican.com. The classified ads have a listing of homes for rent. Good luck!

Thanks DN for your post, exactly what we were looking to hear. We will be there in November and have 60-90 days to find a place, etc. I know that we will have access to the base and its housing office, etc as federal civilians. The info you put in your post seems very close to what we are looking for.