Pfaelzerwaldkarte Dahn-Annweiler Felsenland

The Dahner Felsenland, also referred to as the Dahn Rockland, is a landscape in the county of

Südwestpfalz Südwestpfalz is a district (''Kreis'' or more precise ''Landkreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarpfalz, the district-free city Zweibrücken, the districts Kaiserslautern an ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

federal state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. It is located in the middle section of the

Wasgau The Wasgau (german: Wasgau, french: Vasgovie) is a Franco- German hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle. It is formed from the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the nort ...

, which in turn forms the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the northern part of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a singl ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The Dahner Felsenland has numerous rock formations within the South Palatinate Climbing Area (''Klettergebiet Südpfalz'').

Geographic location

The landscape covers almost the same area as the collective municipality of the same name, which incorporates the town of

Dahn Dahn is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemein ...

and 14 villages. The Dahner Felsenland is part of the

Palatine Forest Nature Park The Palatinate Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Pfälzerwald) lies in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and borders on France. The nature park covers an area of and some 76% of its area is under the woods of the Palatinate ...

. It lies between 200 m (valleys) and 400 m (hilltops) high and is drained by the

Lauter Lauter may refer to: People * Lauter (surname) Places *Lauter, Saxony, town in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg, Saxony, Germany * Lauter, Bavaria, village in the district of Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany Rivers * Lauter (Baunach), tributary to th ...

, which here in its upper reaches is called the ''Wieslauter'', into the

River Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

Tourism

The region has been opened up by a large number of waymarked walking routes. In Dahn itself is the Felsenland Youth Hostel which is part of the

German Youth Hostel Association The German Youth Hostel Association (german: Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk) or DJH is a not-for-profit, registered association ('' eingetragener Verein''). It was founded in 1919 to create an organized network of affordable and safe accommodation ...

.Dahn Youth Hostel
portrait at diejugendherbergen.de

Sights

In the Dahner Felsenland there are 16

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

or castle

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

as well as numerous rock formations made of

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandst ...

, that are used by

sport climber Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors t ...

s. Old legends surround rocks like the

Jungfernsprung The Jungfernsprung, is a precipitous rock formation in the small German town of Dahn in the county of Südwestpfalz. The rocks tower above the town by around 70 metres and are crowned by a type of summit cross at a height of . The rocks is t ...

or the Devil's Table (''Teufelstisch'') (see the Legend of the Jungfernsprung and Legend of the Devil’s Table). Amongst the castles, the Dahn castles, the Berwartstein and the Drachenfels are the best known.

Transport

The Dahner Felsenland may be reached via the A8 motorway (from the west) and A 65 motorway (from the east), in each case using the B 10 federal highway that links the two

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

s. The B 427 (from Hinterweidenthal to

Bad Bergzabern Bad Bergzabern () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, on the German Wine Route in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the south-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approximately ...

) runs right through the Dahn Valley (''Dahner Tal''), the originally planned section of the A 8 motorway from

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''L ...

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, running past Dahn, was never realised. Running parallel to the B 427 in places is a branch of the Queich Valley Railway (Pirmasens–

Landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

), the Wieslauter Railway that links the villages of Hinterweidenthal in the north and Bundenthal in the south of the Dahner Felsenland. The route was re-opened in 1997 for excursions on Sundays and holidays, after regular passenger services had been terminated in 1966.

References

External links

{{Commons, Dahner Felsenland
Dahner Felsenland
Regions of Rhineland-Palatinate Südwestpfalz South Palatinate Natural regions of the Palatinate Forest Geography of the Palatinate (region) Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate