Central/North Black Forest Nature Park

Location of the nature park

The Central/North Black Forest Nature Park (German: Naturpark Schwarzwald Mitte/Nord) covers an area of 3,750 km² and is thus the largest nature park in Germany (as at 2008).

Location

It is a maximum of 90 km from north to south and 65 km wide and covers the counties of Calw, Freudenstadt, Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Rottweil, Enzkreis, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Baden and Pforzheim with 105 municipalities in which around 700,000 people live. The Black Forest National Park is located within the nature park. To the south it is adjoined by the Southern Black Forest Nature Park.

Nature and landscape

View from the Teisenkopf into the Kinzig valley
Idyllic mountain spot in St. Roman near Wolfach
Timber framed Romanesque architecture in the little town of Schiltach

The Central/North Black Forest Nature Park is characterised by the unique beauty and variety of its countryside: deeply incised valleys, rock outcrops, rushing streams, animals on the landscape, on meadows and pastures shape the Black Forest.

Geology and climate as well as centuries of human use have created the Black Forest landscape which alternates between natural countryside and an agricultural cultural landscape. The name of the Black Forest comes from its extensive, near natural, dark, mixed woodlands with their characteristic silver firs. Especially valuable habitats, with a large number of endangered animal and plant species, are also part of the scenery within the nature park:

The variety of habitats is partly due to the very special climate of the Black Forest. Whilst in the vineyards of the foothill zone, it is almost Mediterranean, visitors to highlands, such as the Hornisgrinde, feel almost as if they are in Scandinavia. But this is compensated for in good weather by splendid views of the Rhine Plain in good weather.

In addition its range of hotels and restaurants alongside a host of cultural attractions make the Central/North Black Forest Nature Park one of the most popular holiday regions in Germany. World renown spas, culture and a range of sporting and tourist facilities for activities like hiking, mountain biking and winter sports add to its popularity.

See also

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