Saxon Switzerland

(Local Name: Sächsische Schweiz) Land: Saxony

Situation and characteristics

The name of "Saxon Switzerland" has been given since the Romantic period to an area of some 360sq.km/140sq.mi in the German part of the Elbe Sandstone Hills, the rest of which is in the Czech Republic. It is an upland region lying at an average height of 400m/1,300ft, much broken up and carved into bizarre rocky landscapes by the Elbe and its tributaries, between the Lusatian Fault in the north, the Eastern Erzgebirge (Gottleuba valley) in the west and the frontier with the Czech Republic in the south.