Geography
The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. The highest point is the Donnersberg (687 m) near Kirchheimbolanden. The Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald), popular with hikers, covers more than a third of the region and is the largest contiguous forest in Germany.
The eastern part is lower and is a well-known wine region. The German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstrasse) passes through the Palatinate wine region.
Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the Rhine Rift plain in the east of the region, near the Rhine River, which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate.
Traditionally, the Palatinate is divided into the regions of Anterior Palatinate (Vorderpfalz), West Palatinate (Westpfalz), North Palatinate (Nordpfalz), and South Palatinate (Südpfalz).
The following administrative districts and independent cities are part of the Palatinate:
Districts:
- Bad Dürkheim (DÜW)
- Donnersbergkreis (KIB)
- Germersheim (GER)
- Kaiserslautern (district) (KL)
- Kusel (KUS)
- Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis (RP)
- Südliche Weinstraße (SÜW)
- Südwestpfalz (PS)
Independent cities:
- Frankenthal(FT)
- Kaiserslautern (KL)
- Landau (LD)
- Ludwigshafen (LU)
- Neustadt an der Weinstraße (NW)
- Pirmasens (PS)
- Speyer (SP)
- Zweibrücken (ZW)
Read more about this topic: Palatinate (region)
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