A classification of the various regions of Saxony cannot be achieved in any uniform or standard way, as the commonly used names usually represent a mixture of historical regions and geographical features. Many well-known names of regions, such as
Lusatia
Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...
, comprise a mixture of natural habitats and geological zones, while other, scientifically assigned, names are only known in university departments.
The following list contains, in alphabetical order, both those names that are commonly used, as well as those only known regionally or used in the scientific field. They are listed by their English names with their German names in brackets. Names of settlements or other geographic features are omitted here.
Overall, across much of the area, Saxony belongs both to
Eastern Germany
The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 states upon German reunification on 3 October 1990.
The new st ...
and Central Germany. However, on a smaller scale there are many regions and landscapes that overlap the boundaries of the Free State and extend beyond it:
* Bahra Valley (''Bahratal'')
* Biela Valley (''Bielatal'')
* Dahlen Heath (''Dahlener Heide'')
* Dippoldiswald Heath (''Dippoldiswalder Heide'')
*
Dresden Basin
The Dresden BasinDickinson (1964). pp. 624-625. (german: (Dresdner) Elbtalkessel or ''Dresdner Elbtalweitung'') is a roughly 45 km long and 10 km wide area of the Elbe Valley between the towns of Pirna and Meißen.Elkins (1972), pp. 293- ...
(''Elbtalkessel'' or ''Elbtalweitung'')
*
Dresden Heath
The Dresden Heath (german: Dresdner Heide) is a large forest in the city of Dresden, Germany. The heath is the most important recreation area in the city and is also actively forested. Approximately 6,133 hectares of the Dresden Heath are desig ...
(''Dresdner Heide'')
*
Düben Heath
The Düben Heath (german: Dübener Heide) is a landscape in Germany in eastern Saxony-Anhalt and northern Saxony, between the rivers Elbe and the Mulde, on the northern edge of the Leipzig Bay.
It is bounded in the west by the town of Dessau, i ...
(''Dübener Heide'')
*
Eastern Ore Mountains
The Eastern Ore Mountains (german: Osterzgebirge) form a natural region of Saxony that covers the eastern part (in area almost the eastern half) of the Saxon Ore Mountains range. Together with the Western and Central Ore Mountains, it is part o ...
(''Osterzgebirge'')
*
Elbe Sandstone Mountains
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, also called the Elbe Sandstone Highlands (german: Elbsandsteingebirge; cs, Děčinská vrchovina), are a mountain range straddling the border between the state of Saxony in southeastern Germany and the North Bohemia ...
(''Elbsandsteingebirge'')
*
Elster Mountains
The Elster Mountains (german: Elstergebirge, cs, Halštrovské hory) is a small range of mountains, in Saxony and the Czech Republic, to the west of the Ore Mountains. They lie in a region known as Vogtland, and take their name from the River E ...
Gimmlitz Valley
The Gimmlitz is a river of Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Freiberger Mulde, which it joins in Lichtenberg.
See also
*List of rivers of Saxony
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
Peopl ...
Kirnitzsch Valley
The Kirnitzsch (German), in Bohemia also called the Kirnischt,Messtischblatt Nr. 86 Hinterhermsdorf, published by the Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme, Landesaufnahme Sachsen 193Digitalised at www.fotothek.de/ref> cz, Křinice, is a right tributa ...
Königshain Hills
The Königshain Hills (german: Königshainer Berge, Upper Sorbian: ''Limas'') lie in Eastern Upper Lusatia west of the town of Görlitz in the county of the same name. They are located north and south of the village of Königshain after wh ...
(''Königshainer Berge'')
*
Lusatian Highlands
The Lusatian Highlands''Upper Lusatia'' at www.silvaportal.info. Accessed on 10 July 20 ...
(''Lausitzer Bergland'')
*
Lusatian Mountains
The Lusatian Mountains ( cs, Lužické hory; german: Lausitzer Gebirge; pl, Góry Łużyckie) are a mountain range of the Western Sudetes on the southeastern border of Germany with the Czech Republic. They are a continuation of the Ore Mountains ...
Leipzig Bay
The Leipzig BayDickinson (1964), p. 29.Lößnitz
Bergstadt Lößnitz (“Mining Town of Lößnitz”, also spelt Lössnitz), sometimes also called ''Muhme'' (“Aunt”) for its age, is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany, and belongs to the Town League of Silberberg (''St ...
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia (; ; ; szl, Dolnŏ Łużyca; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the sou ...
(''Niederlausitz'')
*
Meissen Upland
Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...
(''Meißner Hochland'')
*
Central Saxon Hills
The Central Saxon Hills (german: Mittelsächsische Hügelland, also called the ''Sächsisches Burgen- und Heideland''), is a region of ''Hügelland'' with indistinct boundaries in the centre of the German state of Saxony.
Geographic location
To ...
(''Mittelsächsisches Hügelland'')
* Moritzburg Kleinkuppen District (''Moritzburger Kleinkuppenlandschaft'')
* Moritzburg Lake District (''Moritzburger Teichgebiet'')
* Mothäus Heath (''Mothäuser Heide'')
* Muskau Heath (''Muskauer Heide'')
* Natzschung Valley (''Natzschungtal'')
* North Saxon Heathland (''Nordsächsisches Heideland'')
* Ore Mountains (''Erzgebirge'')
*
Ore Mountain Foreland
The Saxon Uplands, Saxon HillsElkins, T H (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . or Ore Mountain Foreland (german: Erzgebirgsvorland}) is a strip of countryside of about 200 m to high, in the German state of Saxony, that l ...
Saxon Switzerland
Saxon Switzerland (german: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sands ...
(''Sächsische Schweiz'')
*
Saxon Elbeland
The Saxon Elbeland Dickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p.625. . (german: Sächsisches Elbland) is a term used in more recent times which describes a region along the Elbe, whose bou ...
Schrammsteine
The Schrammsteine are a long, strung-out, very jagged group of rocks in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains located east of Bad Schandau in Saxon Switzerland in eastern Germany. To the north they are bordered by the Kirnitzsch valley, to the south by the ...
*
Striegistal
Striegistal is a municipality in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. In 1994, the unification of the former municipalities of Berbersdorf, Goßberg, Mobendorf and Pappendorf as part of the regional administrative reform, created t ...
Tharandt Forest
The Tharandt Forest (german: Tharandter Wald) is a landscape in the centre of the German Free State of Saxony and lies southwest of the forest town of Tharandt, south of the town of Wilsdruff, roughly between the cities of Freiberg and Dresde ...
(''Tharandter Wald'')
*
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...
(''Oberlausitz'')
*
Vogtland
Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...
*
Werdau Forest
Werdau () is a town in Germany, part of the Landkreis Zwickau in Saxony. It is situated on the river Pleiße, 8 km from Zwickau.
The town was mentioned as early as 1304, and in 1398 it was purchased by Frederick, then margrave of Meissen, ...
Western Ore Mountains
The Western Ore Mountains (german: Westerzgebirge) is a natural region that forms the westernmost part of the Ore Mountains in the German state of Saxony. It is also part of the major landscape unit known as the Saxon Highlands and Uplands. It ex ...
Zittau Mountains
The Zittau Mountains (german: Zittauer Gebirge, cs, Žitavské hory), formerly also called the Lusatian Ridge (''Lausitzer Kamm''), refer to the German part of the Lusatian Mountains that straddle the Saxon-Bohemian border in the extreme sout ...
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...