Bavarian Jura (Bayerischer Jura)

Foothills of a European mountain range, the Bavarian Jura geographically spreads over three districts Kehlheim, Neumarkt and Amberg-Sulzbach, completed by the western part of Regensburg.

Holiday resorts in the districts of Kehlheim, Amberg-Sulzbach, Neumarkt and Regensburg have a wider range of reasonably priced holiday offers.

Main activities include hiking and cycling, but there’s a lot more! The region has plenty to offer as far as culture is concerned: top-class concerts, theaters, traditional fairs and festivities harmonically add to the course of the year.

A pristine and diverse nature characterized by its oppositeness awaits you in the Bavarian Jura: a mosaic of species, river valleys and woods; an area abundant in rock landscapes, meadows and caves.

A characteristic landscape contingent on the lime stone in the underground. 

Some corners of this landscape are rightly referred to as “Tuscany of the Upper Palatinate”, similarities to the South are clearly recognizable: white rock landscapes rising from the ground, woodless grasslands and hillsides sweet with herbs on hot days spread a Mediterranean flair.

Lacking courses of rivers and lakes convey the impression of a landscape located in the south of the Alps, but this is not true: it is water that has characterized the landscape of the Bavarian Jura to this very day.

As the name already explains, the natural landscape in the Bavarian Jura is mainly characterized by rock formations of the Jurassic period.

The name “Jura” was first given to lime stone areas in Switzerland by the famous naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in 1795 and was adopted by the French geologist Brogniart in 1829 to term a geologic period. 

The term “Jura” originates from Celtic usage and means “mountain” or “woody mountains”.

The origins of the word “Alb” trace back to the Neolithic European language, in which it stood for “white”.

The Celts used this term to describe a “white mountain range”.

Like no other period in the history of Earth, the Jurassic is synonymous for entire sections of a country such as the Franconian Jura, which is also referred to as Franconian Alb, both a natural space and site of the diverse highlands of the Bavarian Jura.