Bavarian Forest National Park - Geography

Geography

The National Park runs along the main ridge of the Bavarian Forest from the Großer Falkenstein (1,305 m) in the northwest past the Großer Rachel (1,453 m) to the Lusen (1,373 m) in the southeast.

According to the classification of the major natural regions of Germany it is part of the Rear Bavarian Forest (Hinterer Bayerischer Wald) in the Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest.

On the other side of the border in Czechia, the Bavarian Forest National Park is bounded by the Šumava National Park which is 68,064 hectares in area.

The national park is located in the eastern part of Bavaria in the counties of Regen and Freyung-Grafenau along the border with the Czech Republic and covers an area of 24,250 hectares of primeval forest covering the low mountain range of the Bavarian Forest. It borders on the municipalities of (from north to south): Bayerisch Eisenstein, Zwiesel, Lindberg, Frauenau, Spiegelau, Sankt Oswald-Riedlhütte, Neuschönau, Hohenau and Mauth. Parts of the National Park are located on the territory of the respective communities and parts also lie in unparished areas.

There are many enclaves in the national park, especially around the edges:

• Zwieslerwaldhaus at the foot of the Großer Falkenstein belongs to the municipality Lindberg.
• Schleicher and Kreuzstraßl belong to Lindberg.
• Neuhütte and Jägerfleck in Spiegelau
• Guglöd, belongs to St. Oswald-Riedlhütte
• Waldhäuser on the Lusen, is part of Neuschönau, the largest enclave in the national park
• Altschönau, is part of Neuschönau.
• Sagwasser-Säge and Weidhütte form a joint functional enclave belonging to Hohenau and which is joined to the rest of the country, but can only be accessed on a road passing through the national park.
• Glashütte is part of Hohenau.

In addition, there are several other enclaves that comprise just one or a few small plots. These numerous enclaves, especially in the Altgebiet make the border very long there, and the perimeter zone, where bark beetle control is allowed, extends far into the interior of the park (see below for more details).