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Sauerland
Travel Information
The Sauerland is a rural,
hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North
Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major
valleys, sparsely inhabited.
 It has been chosen as the first place in Germany where
the Wisent or European bison will be reintroduced mainly because of its
large forests, and to help boost the tourism industry by attracting
visitors to the region.
To the
west the hills continue into the Bergisches Land, to the south into the
Siegerland, and to the north-east into the Teutoburg Forest. The major
rivers of the Sauerland are the Ruhr and the Lenne. Several artificial
lakes were created on the smaller rivers by building dams to store water
for the nearby Ruhr area, the biggest reservoirs being the Möhne and
Bigge. Although the highest elevation of the Sauerland is the Langenberg
(843 m) near Olsberg, the much more renowned summit, which is well-known
for the nearby skiing facilities, its weather station and observation
tower, is the slightly lower Kahler Asten (842 m) near Winterberg. Both
Langenberg and Kahler Asten are parts of the Rothaargebirge.
The
largest town of the Sauerland is Iserlohn followed by Lüdenscheid and
Arnsberg. One of the biggest prehistorical caves of Europe is situated in
Balve; the largest accessible limestone cave ouside the Alps is in
Attendorn.
Meschede
is the home of an abbey.
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