Vorarlberg Rhine Valley

The Vorarlberg Rhine Valley (german: Vorarlberger Rheintal), also called the Vorarlberg Oberland and Unterland, is a section of the

Alpine Rhine Valley The Alpine Rhine Valley (german: Alpenrheintal) is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the part of the Alpine Rhine (german: Alpenrhein ) between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and the Alpine Rhine's mouth at ...

and is divided into the Upper and Lower Rhine Valley (''oberes'' and ''unteres Rheintal'') based on the direction of flow of the river. The Unterland runs from the shore of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

to the Kummenberg, the Upper Rhine valley lies south of the Kummenberg. The Unterland covers the whole of the administrative district of

Dornbirn Dornbirn () is a city in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative centre for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau. Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlberg ...

and all the territories of the district of

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

that lie within the Rhine Valley. In this region, which includes the

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

s of Bregenz and Dornbirn, live about 180,000 people, around half the population of Vorarlberg. The "green lung" of this region is the Vorarlberg Ried, which is on the border with

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and is surrounded by the settlements of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

on three sides. Geographically the Lower Rhine Valley also includes the municipality of

Altach Altach is a municipality in the district of Feldkirch, in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Neighboring municipalities Five other municipalities surround Altach: Hohenems in the district of Dornbirn, Götzis and Mäder in the distric ...

. Due to its historical links with the municipality of

Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The Alpine Rhine valley municipality belongs to the district of Feldkirch. Population Events The town is well known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so-called Hypo ...

and membership of the district of

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...

, Altach is often considered part of the Oberland. Regions of Austria {{Austria-geo-stub