The Lower Westerwald (german: Niederwesterwald) is a region, over 1,300 km² in area, in the west of the German hill range, the Westerwald, in the north of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and, for small elements, in the south of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It reaches a height of 544 metres, 12 km northeast of

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

at the

Montabaur Heights The Montabaur Heights (german: Montabaurer Höhe) are a 10 to 15 kilometre long, mostly wooded hill ridge in the southwestern Westerwald in Germany and lies mainly within the county of Westerwaldkreis. The ridge is geographically class ...

. From a natural region perspective the Lower Westerwald is major unit 324 within the major unit group of Westerwald (32). In the south it also includes the historical cultural landscape of the

Kannenbäckerland The Kannenbäckerland ("potters' land" or, more literally, "jug bakers' land") is a cultural landscape in central Germany, which extends from Wirges in the Westerwald hills to Bendorf and Vallendar in the Middle Rhine valley. The Kannenbäckerl ...

. The north(west) part of the Lower Westerwald is also called the Vorderwesterwald ("Anterior Westerwald") because, seen from Cologne and Bonn, it is at the front (''vorne'', "anterior") of the Westerwald. Its boundaries, however, only vaguely defined. Another description is Unterwesterwald ("Under Westerwald"). It surfaces frequently in the names of clubs and institutions, but is not however used in any standardised way. It generally refers to the region of the old county of Unterwesterwaldkreis, which did not include the whole of the Lower Westerwald to the west and north, but extended further east into the natural region of the

Upper Westerwald Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

Name

The prefix "''Nieder''" does not mean that the landscape as a whole was more level than the neighbouring

to the east. Rather, it refers to the rivers on its boundaries - the Lahn and Sieg - as well as the rivers on its interior - the

Saynbach The Sayn (frequently also called the Saynbach) is a small river, just under long, in the south of the Westerwald hill region of Germany. It rises near Himburg in the Upper Westerwald and empties into the River Rhine in Bendorf (between the tow ...

and Wied - the lower reaches of which pass through the Lower Westerwald. Regions of the Westerwald Regions of Rhineland-Palatinate Rhenish Massif {{Germany-geo-stub