To call it a mountain range is a little misleading as its highest peak, the Große Zschirnstein, is only 556m/1,814ft, but it indicates the diversity of this wonderfully rugged hiking country.
Also known as the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Saxon Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz in German) is a myriad of bizarre rock formations, wild gorges, sheer cliffs and intriguing forests. The countryside is dotted with romantic fortresses, pretty villages, old mills and historical inns – all handcrafted with endless devotion and detail, and which, only now, seem to be awakening from a long slumber.
The peculiar German tendency to name hilly areas after Switzerland began at the beginning of the 19th century, in the period of the Romantic Movement. However, the landscape, far from looking Swiss, is unique in Central Europe, with deep, narrow valleys and dense forests interrupted by outcrops of rock welded into truly fantastic shapes.
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains stretch across the border between the state of Saxony in eastern Germany and the Czech Republic. They seamlessly blend into Bohemian Switzerland on the Czech side, which claims the largest natural stone bridge on the European continent – Pravcická Brána. Both countries have declared their individual part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains a national park.