Explore the Bavarian Forest
Categories: Family and Kids, Sightseeing, Cultural and History
The Bavarian Forest lies in the South East of Bavaria, between the Danube river and the border with the Czech Republic. Together with the adjoining Bohemian Forest in the Czech Republic, it forms the largest range of forested mountains in Central Europe.
The mountains are ‘medium height’, reaching 1,500 metres (nearly 5,000 feet), rising from the flat Danube plain, through rolling hills, to the forested high mountains along the border. Much of the border area is covered by the Bavarian Forest National Park, the first National Park in Germany (founded in 1970), including the largest area of forested wilderness in Europe.
The Bavarian Forest, with its cold winters and dense forests, maintains a very distinctive character, in spite of the opening up of the area to tourism with the arrival of the railway in the late 19th century. The border has played an important role in history, firstly marking the Western boundary of the Habsburg Empire and later the cold war divide between Eastern and Western Europe, the ‘iron curtain’. Local festivals throughout the summer celebrate local battles and other historic events, as well as the use of horses in forest work, always accompanied by plenty of locally brewed beer and brass band music.
Walking, cycling and many forest based sports and activities bring tourists to the area from spring to autumn, while the cold winters provide potential for all types of winter activity: downhill skiing on the Arber mountain (location of world cup races), cross country skiing and snow shoe walking through the forests, tobogganing, curling, skating and horse drawn sledge races.
As well as the pretty villages, castles and towns of the Bavarian Forest, many of which contain factories and museums featuring locally produced glass, the area is an ideal base from which to explore the Danube, with its beautiful cities of Passau (Passau vacation rentals | Passau travel guide) and Regensburg (Regensburg vacation rentals | Regensburg travel guide) (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) as well as Klatovy, Plzen and Cesky Krumlov (another UNESCO World Heritage Site) and even Prague in the Czech Republic.
The area also has its own cuisine and local drinks: with traditional dishes featuring pork and dumplings, lots of locally caught game, fish from the mountain streams and desserts with fruits of the forest. Many villages have small breweries and the other local drink is schnaps, made from herbs, roots and fruit from the forest.
Although a popular tourist area with Germans, there are very few foreign tourists and it is never crowded. Truly an area where you can ‘live like a German’ and leave the outside world behind for a few days.
Related Links
Der Bayerische Wald
Information about traveling, visiting and accommodation in the Bavarian Forest.
About this Article
This travel guide has been written by Margaret Leach.
More Germany Travel Related Articles
- Lutherweg – Tracing Martin Luther’s Footsteps
- Oberhof, not only for World Champions
- Birkeneck Luxury Holiday Home
- Detmold – “City of Culture in the Teutoburg Forest“
- "Christkindlmarkt" and "Kripperlmarkt" in Munich
- Striezelmarkt in Dresden
- Take a tour through Hesse's largest private Beer Brewery
- The German Wine Route – Heaven for Wine Connoisseurs
- Trier - Visit the Oldest City in Germany
- Lake Biggesee
Nearby Destinations Where You Can Find Nice Germany Vacation Rentals
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city (population 131,000 in 2007) in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative…
Related: Regensburg travel guide
Bayerisch Eisenstein
Bayerisch Eisenstein is an all year holiday resort in the Bavarian Forest, bounded by the border with the Czech Republic, the Arber mountain and the Bavarian Forest National Park. The village is ideally situated for exploring both Bavaria and the Czech…
Related: Bayerisch Eisenstein travel guide
Bodenmais
Bodenmais is a town in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany. It lies at one end of the Zeller Valley in the Bavarian Forest.
Related: Bodenmais travel guide
Grafenau
Grafenau is a historic town located in the Freyung-Grafenau district of Lower Bavaria. It is considered the oldest town in the Bavarian forest. Grafenau is the seat of the Bavarian Forest National Park Authority.
Related: Grafenau travel guide
Frauenau
Frauenau is a municipality in the district of Regen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is known for its artificial lake, which is used as a water supply of a large city in Germany.
Related: Frauenau travel guide
Feedback, comments, questions?
If you have visited here please share your experiences with our readers on Facebook. Or, if you have other cool trip suggestions and would like to contribute a travel guide here, please drop me an email. We also are encouraging free-lancers, travel guide writers or publishers who have great Germany related content to send us an email and get in touch with us.
