Palatinate Forest

(Local Name: Pfälzer Wald) Land: Rhineland-Palatinate

Situation and characteristics

The Pfälzer Wald (Palatinate Forest) is an upland region of Bunter sandstone on the left bank of the Upper Rhine, immediately north of the Vosges. With an area of some 1,350sq.km/520sq.mi, it is one of the largest expanses of forest in Germany: even the towns of Kaiserslautern and Pirmasens are almost completely ringed by forest.

Landscape

The hills rise very gradually from the Saar basin in the west and then fall steeply down to the Rhine plain in the east. At the east end, in the Haardtgebirge, are the highest peaks (Kalmit, 673m/2,208ft). Here the hills are crowned by numerous ruined castles