The Alpine foothills, or Prealps (german: Voralpen; french: Préalpes; it, Prealpi; ), may refer generally to any

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topographi ...

at the base of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

in Europe. They are the transition zone between the

High Alps The High Alps are the parts of the Alps unsuitable for habitation or seasonal transhumance. This includes all regions higher than 3,000 m above sea level, as well as most regions between 2,500 m and 3,000 m ( Juf at 2,126 m is the highest permanen ...

and the

Swiss Plateau The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau (german: Schweizer Mittelland; french: plateau suisse; it, altopiano svizzero) is one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland, lying between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of ...

and the Bavarian Alpine Foreland in the north, as well as to the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the ...

(

Alpokalja Alpokalja (English "feet of the Alps") is a geographic region in western Hungary. Its highest point is Írott-kő at 882 metres above sea level. Although there are several lower mountains, the majority of the territory is hilly. Fir forests are ch ...

) in the east, the

Padan Plain The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

in the south and the Rhone Valley in the west.

Classification

The Alpine foothills comprise: *The

French Prealps The French Prealps (french: Préalpes) are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line run ...

** Savoy Prealps ** Dauphiné Prealps ** Provence Prealps *The Swiss Prealps *The Northern Prealps, part of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany ...

: ** Bavarian Prealps in southeastern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

Prealps, part of the Salzkammergut Mountains in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Upper Austrian Prealps The Upper Austrian Prealps (german: Oberösterreichische Voralpen) is a mountain range in Austria which, according to the Categorisation of the Eastern Alps, covers the region between the valley of the Traun (Gmunden) in the west and the Enns va ...

** Lower Austrian Prealps, leading to the

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (german: Wienerwald) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area ...

*The Southeastern Prealps, borderline of the Alps to the Pannonian Basin in Austria and Slovenia: ** Prealps East of the Mur **

Lavanttal Alps The Lavanttal Alps (german: Lavanttaler Alpen, sl, Labotniške Alpe) are part of the Central Eastern Alps in Austria and Slovenia, between the river Mur in the north and the Drava in the south. The mountains are named after the central valley o ...

** Styrian Prealps **

Slovenian Prealps The Slovene Prealps or the Slovenian Prealps ( sl, Slovenske Predalpe, , ) are a group of mountain ranges in the eastern part of the Alps. They are located in Slovenia and, for a small part of their northernmost area, in Austria. Geography SO ...

Pohorje Pohorje (), also known as the Pohorje Massif or the Pohorje Mountains (german: Bachergebirge, ''Bacherngebirge'' or often simply ''Bachern''), is a mostly wooded, medium-high mountain range south of the Drava River in northeastern Slovenia. Acco ...

*The Southern or Italian Prealps, usually divided into: **

Julian Prealps The Julian Alps and Prealps (in Slovenian ''Julijske Alpe v širšem smislu'', in Italian ''Alpi e Prealpi Giulie'') are a mountain range in the eastern part of the Alps. They are located in Slovenia and in Italy. Geography SOIUSA classi ...

Venetian Prealps The Venetian Prealps (''Prealpi Venete'' in Italian) are a mountain range in the south-eastern part of the Alps. They are located in Triveneto, in the north-eastern part of Italy. Geography Administratively the range is divided between the It ...

** Bergamasque Prealps ** Lugano Prealps **

Brescia and Garda Prealps The Brescia and Garda Prealps (''Prealpi Bresciane e Gardesane'' in Italian) are a mountain range in the southern part of the Alps. They are located mainly in Lombardy but also in Trentino Alto Adige and in Veneto, in the northern part of Italy ...

From the geological point of view, the Alpi Cusiane and a small part of the

Biellese Alps The Biellese Alps (''Alpi Biellesi'' or ''Prealpi Biellesi'' in Italian) are a sub-range of the Pennine Alps located between Piemonte and Aosta Valley (Italy). Etymology ''Alpi Biellesi'' literally means ''Alps of Biellese''; ''Biellese'' is th ...

ranges of the

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (german: Walliser Alpen, french: Alpes valaisannes, it, Alpi Pennine, la, Alpes Poeninae), also known as the Valais Alps, are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland (Valais) and Italy ...

are also considered to be in the Prealps.

Notes

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Foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topographi ...

Classification

See also

Notes