Vogelsberg

Northeast of the Taunus in the Hessian Uplands, and separated from it by the Wetterau, rises the Vogelsberg, a flat-topped cone some 50km/30mi in diameter which was originally a much higher volcano. The old lava flows, the line of which can still be traced in the valleys radiating from the hill, form the largest mass of basalt in Germany. The summit area consists of the unpopulated Oberwald, a tract of forest (mainly beech and oak) at a height of over 600 m/2,000ft, rising to 772 m/2,533ft in the Taufstein.

From the Vogelsberg the ridge of hills runs east to the Rhön, the northern part of which is in Thuringia and the southern part in Bavaria.