The Bohemian Forest (known in Czech as Šumava (pronounced [ˈʃumava] ) and in German as Böhmerwald) is a low mountain range in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. The mountains extend from the Plzeň and South Bohemian regions into Upper Austria and Bavaria, and form the highest truncated uplands of the Bohemian Massif, up to 50 kilometres (31 mi) wide. They create a natural border between the Czech Republic on one side and Austria and Germany on the other.
The Šumava National Park (Czech: Národní park Šumava, usually shortened as NP Šumava), or Bohemian Forest National Park,is a national park in the South Bohemian regions of the Czech Republic along the border with Germany (where the smaller adjacent Bavarian Forest National Park lies) and Austria. They protect a little-inhabited area of the mountain range of the same name, the Šumava or Bohemian Forest.
The Šumava National Park forms about two-thirds of a former protection known as Protected Landscape Area of Šumava, or simply Šumava PLA, established in 1963. In 1990, the area was designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and in 1991 it was changed to national park status.
The Bavarian Forest National Park (German: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first national park in Germany. Since its expansion on 1 August 1997 it has covered an area of 24,250 hectares. Together with the neighbouring Czech Bohemian Forest the Bavarian Forest forms the largest contiguous area of forest in Central Europe.
The Vltava (/ˈvʊltəvə, ˈvʌl-/ VU(U)L-tə-və, Czech: [ˈvl̩tava] ; German: Moldau [ˈmɔldaʊ] ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It runs southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague. It is commonly referred to as the "Czech national river".
The Bavarian Forest (German: Bayerischer Wald [ˈbaɪʁɪʃɐ ˈvalt] or Bayerwald [ˈbaɪɐvalt] ; Bavarian: Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany, that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is continued on the Czech side by the Bohemian Forest (Czech: Šumava). Most of the Bavarian Forest lies within the province of Lower Bavaria, but the northern part lies within the Upper Palatinate. In the south it reaches the border with Upper Austria.
Geologically and geomorphologically, the Bavarian Forest is part of the Bohemian Forest - the highest of the truncated highlands of the Bohemian Massif. The area along the Czech border has been designated as the Bavarian Forest National Park (240 km), established in 1970 as the first national park in Germany. Another 3,008 km has been designated as the Bavarian Forest Nature Park, established 1967, and another 1,738 km as the Upper Bavarian Forest Nature Park, established in 1965. The Bavarian Forest is a remnant of the Hercynian Forest that stretched across southern Germania in Roman times. It is the largest protected forest area in central Europe.