The Little Switzerland (German: Fränkische Schweiz) is an upland in Upper Franconia, northern Bavaria and a popular tourist retreat. Located between the Pegnitz River in the east and the south, the Regnitz River in the west and the Main River in the north, its relief reaches 600 metres in height.
The Franconian Switzerland was given its name by Romantic artists and poets in the 19th century who compared its landscape to Switzerland. The Franconian Switzerland is a famous for a very high density of traditional breweries.
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The region was once called Muggendorfer Gebürg (Muggendorf mountains). The first tourists arrived during the age of Romanticism. Two law students of Erlangen University, Ludwig Tieck and Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder have been credited as "discoverers" of the region. Their travel report from 1793 enthralled many contemporaries. The 1820 book Die kleine Schweiz (Little Switzerland), written by Jakob Reiselsberger of Waischenfeld, gave the region its name. In 1829, a book by German salesman and local historian Joseph Heller, Muggendorf und seine Umgebung oder die Fränkische Schweiz (Muggendorf and its surrounding or the Franconian Switzerland) was published.
The description Switzerland was common during the 19th century for landscapes with mountains, valleys and most significantly rocks, e.g., Saxon Switzerland, Märkisch Switzerland, Mecklenburg Switzerland and Holstein Switzerland.
It is the northern part of the Franconian Jura (Frankenjura).
The Franconian Switzerland is one of the oldest tourist regions in Germany.The first travellers arrived at the beginning of the 19th century. The most attractive tourist locations are the many caves.
A large range of outdoor activities is possible in the "Fränkische Schweiz". Beside countless hiking paths the area is popular for its great rock climbing and canoeing options. Most important is however the impressing nature, which should be preserved by every visitor.
Home to the annual Frankonian Switzerland Marathon, beginning in Forchheim and slowly climbing to Sachsenmühle-Wende, then back to Ebermannstadt, the area includes 375 km of some of the best trails for running, Nordic walking, and rambling in Germany maintained by the European-Community-funded Running Experience Project which was launched in July 2011.
The Franconian Switzerland Steam Railway (Dampfbahn Fränkische Schweiz) or DFS is a museum railway based in Ebermannstadt[1] that operates steam and diesel specials on Sundays and on public holidays.
The most prominent mountain is the mountain commonly known as "Walberla", a mesa east of Forchheim. The official name for the mountain is Ehrenbürg. The Ehrenbürg consists of two peaks, the Rodenstein of 532 meter and the Walberla of 512 metes. On the mountain, there is a small chapel, which is called the Walburgis Chapel, whose existence was first mentioned in a document from 1360. This chapel has given the mountain its name. Furthermore, there is also an annual fair on the mountain on April 30, the birthday of the holy Walburga, which attracts thousands of people.
Other popular mountains are
The rocks of the Franconian Switzerland's mountains provide an important area for mountain climbing. With its more than 6,500 routes is one of the best developed climbing areas in the world.
Important climbing areas are:
There are countless caves in the Franconian Switzerland, of which the Devil's Cave (Teufelshöhle) near Pottenstein is the most famous. The region is a typical example for a Karst topography.
Accessible caves:
The Franconian Switzerland is located along the so-called castle road (Burgenstraße), which connects more than 70 castles, palaces and fortresses between Mannheim and Prague. Most of these castles were constructed in the Middle Ages. The following castles and castle ruins can be visited:
The Franconian Switzerland is the origin of the so-called Osterbrunnen. It describes the colorful decoration of public water wells during the Easter season. During the time of modernization and the construction of canalization, this custom had lost its significance. Only in the early 1980s, it was rediscovered and in 1986 169 villages again decorated their water wells. Today, more than 200 villages decorate their village well with coloured easter eggs. The main reason for this custom is probably the significance of water for the arid high plateau of the Franconian Switzerland. The Bieberbach Osterbrunnen (Egloffstein) was admitted to the Guinness Book of Records as "the largest Osterbrunnen of the world".