A landscape shaped by the Rhine between three major mountain ranges
The geography of the Upper Rhine is characterized by a broad plain, oriented mainly north-south, formed by the Rhine River. This plain is surrounded by the Vosges, Black Forest, and Jura mountain ranges.
The Rhine flows through or along the borders of six countries before emptying into the North Sea. From its source in the Swiss Alps to its mouth in the Netherlands, it connects regions with diverse landscapes and ways of life.
A true natural, economic, and cultural artery of Europe, the Rhine is also a shared waterway, the management of which relies on cooperation among the riparian countries.
With a total length of 1,233 km, it flows through a watershed of 185,000 km² with a discharge reaching 2,300 m³/s.
This river gives its name to an entire cross-border region: the Upper Rhine. In this section, it flows 318 km from south to north, first forming the border between Germany and Switzerland and then between Germany and France.
The Rhine serves many purposes beyond its well-known role as a border between countries.
First and foremost, it is a key route for river transportation: the ports along the Upper Rhine form the upstream end of a continuous corridor extending all the way to Rotterdam. Often integrated with rail and road networks, these ports are home to industrial and tourism-related activities.
The river is also used for power generation, with 41 hydroelectric plants, for a total installed capacity of nearly 2.3 GW:
- 11 small plants producing 1 to 10 MW
- the vast majority (23) are medium-sized plants ranging from 10 to 100 MW
- 7 large plants with a capacity of over 100 MW
Like the Rhine River, this power generation is shared among the countries: 19 plants are in France, 12 in Germany, and 10 in Switzerland.
The Rhine is also synonymous with biodiversity. Along its entire length, numerous floodplain forests and wetlands are designated as cross-border “Ramsar sites”. Shaded in blue on the map, these are wetlands recognized as being of international importance.
At the heart of this ribbon, nature reserves and forest biological reserves line the river (shown in light green and dark green on the map, respectively).
Furthermore, the region’s rich biodiversity is reflected in the presence of numerous Natura 2000 sites, which extend well beyond the river. On the map, areas protected for their habitats are shown in light green, and those protected for their birdlife are shown in turquoise.
In total, protected areas cover 4,516 km², or 21% of the region. Of these, 365 km² are located within a 1-km buffer zone around the river.
Like energy and transportation, this protection is shared among the three countries, with one exception: since Natura 2000 is a European Union program, Switzerland is not included, and its protected areas are governed by different regulations.
The landscape is characterized by three major mountain ranges: the Vosges in France, the Black Forest in Germany, and the Franco-Swiss Jura.
Between these mountain ranges, the Rhine Plain occupies the main area where most human activities are concentrated.
Discover the region’s 22 major peaks using the chart below!
Dozens of rivers flow down from these mountain ranges, converging on the plain before joining the Rhine, which flows from south to north across Europe until it reaches the Netherlands and the North Sea.
A watershed is a geographic area where stormwater runoff or infiltration is collected by a river and its tributaries. There are 45 watersheds throughout the country, 4 of which are transboundary.
Below is their distribution by country
Geological history, water, and human activities have shaped the landscapes we see today. Thanks to Copernicus, the European Earth observation program, we have a comprehensive view of land cover here.
CORINE Land Cover (CLC) is a biophysical inventory of land cover produced through the visual interpretation of satellite images, based on a classification system comprising 44 categories. The most recent data, described in detail below, is from 2018.
Agricultural lands account for 43% of the territory (9,400 km²). They consist mainly of arable land used for annual cereal crops. These areas are found primarily in the flat regions of the Rhine Valley, stretching from Rhineland-Palatinate (DE) in the north to the Plain of Alsace (FR), Baden (DE), and then southward to the Sundgau (FR). In Switzerland, these areas are less extensive and consist of smaller plots, particularly in Aargau and the Jura, with a more scattered presence around Solothurn.
Forested areas cover 44% of the territory (9,564 km²). They are concentrated mainly in the mountainous regions:
- Palatinate Forest (in the northwest of the territory)
- Vosges Mountains (in the west of the territory)
- Black Forest (in the east)
- the Jura
The plains are not without forests either: the Haguenau Forest north of Strasbourg and the Hardt Forest near Mulhouse are among the major lowland forests, along with the alluvial forests of the Rhine Valley.
The vineyard-covered hillsides are iconic features of the Upper Rhine landscape. They cover 2.5% of the area, or approximately 537 km².
Unlike forests, vineyards do not cover vast, contiguous areas: they form narrow strips located in the transition zones between the plains and the hills. The foothills of the Vosges in Alsace and those of the Black Forest in Baden are home to the majority of these vineyards, arranged symmetrically on either side of the Rhine Rift Valley, complemented by the Kaiserstuhl—an isolated volcanic massif in the plain—and by the extensive vineyards of the Palatinate to the north.
Urbanized areas account for 11.4% of the territory (2,400 km²). They consist mainly of inhabited areas that are organized in two ways:
- a few very large urban centers: Basel, Mulhouse, Colmar, Freiburg im Breisgau, Strasbourg, Offenburg, and Karlsruhe;
- a dense network of towns and villages covering the entire plain.
Built-up areas follow the region’s main axes: the Rhine strip, the foothills, and the valleys, while the mountain ranges remain largely free of urbanization. In Basel, the metropolitan area extends continuously across all three countries.
Now you can explore this data yourself using the tools below. You can select an administrative entity directly on the graph or on the interactive map, use the legend as a filter, or even sort the data by land-use category.