Schmitten, Fribourg - Geography

Geography

Schmitten is located at an elevation of 647 m (2,123 ft) above sea level. The aerial distance to the canton's capital Fribourg is 9 km (5.6 mi). The town stands on a plateau east of the Dälihubel which is standing slightly towards the north. The area belongs to the Fribourg middle lands and has plenty of hills.

The highest elevation of Schmitten is the Wilerholz (767 m above sea level).

Schmitten has an area of 13.5 km2 (5.21 sq mi). Of this area, 9.77 km2 (3.77 sq mi) or 72.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.95 km2 (0.75 sq mi) or 14.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.78 km2 (0.69 sq mi) or 13.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.04 km2 (9.9 acres) or 0.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.5%. Out of the forested land, 13.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 46.4% is used for growing crops and 24.6% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Sense district, north-east of Fribourg. It consists of the village of Schmitten, the hamlets of Fillistorf, Lanthen, Ried, Tützenberg, Berg, Burg, Mühletal and Zirkels, along with the farmhouses of Bunziwil, Hohe Zelg, Wiler, Betlehem and Vetterwil.