The Alpine Foreland

The Alpine Foreland

South of the Swabian and Frankonian Albs – which belong to the Central German Uplands – begins the Alpine Foreland. It forms part of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and extends for roughly 400 kilometres from west to east and for approx. 150 kilometres from north to south. The Foreland is bounded by Lake Constance (Bodensee) and the German Alps to the south and the Bavarian Forest to the east.

The Danube River (Donau) rises in the Black Forest and traverses the northern part of the Alpine Foreland in easterly direction, crossing into Austria near Passau. The Iller, Lech, Isar, and Inn rivers flow from the south into the Danube and drain the Alpine Foreland which gently rises from 400 metres above sea level at the Danube to 800 metres at the beginning of the Alpine foothills.

The scenery of the Alpine Foreland is characterized by gently rolling green hills. There are many glacial lakes in the foreland, the Chiemsee, the Starnberger See and the Ammersee being the larger ones.

With the exception of Munich and the smaller cities of Augsburg, Ingolstadt, and Ulm, the foreland is predominantly rural. Much of the whole region is pasture land and used for dairy farming or for sowing hardy crops.