saxon-switzerland

The Elbe Sandstone Mountains lie in the far Southeast of Germany, only 30 kilometres from Dresden, between the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) and the Lusatia Mountains (Lausitzer Bergland). They extend from the town of Pirna across the Czech border to the town of Decin in Bohemia.

The German part is known as Saxon Switzerland and covers 368 square kilometres of stunning landscape. During the Cretaceous period, between 1,444 and 66 million years ago, a stretch of sea covered the land where today you will find gorges, mesas and rock towers in abundance. The region was formed when rivers flowing from the peaks of the Ore mountains deposited sediment and seashells as the waters flowed to the sea.

Technically speaking the Elbe Sandstone Mountains are not mountains at all. The landscape was formed by erosion, from water and wind, which created the region's distinctive features; sandstone blocks, u-shaped valleys and vertical walls, which descend in several steps and are broken up into spurs and rock towers.