The terrace landscape of the Central Uplands in the southwest embraces the upper Rhine valley with the adjacent mountain ranges of the Black Forest, the Oden Forest and Spessart, the Palatinate Forest with the Haardt, and the Swabian-Franconian terrace country with the Alb.

In a narrow valley between Bingen and Bonn the river Rhine, the main north-south axis, slices through the Rhenish Schist Massif, whose highland areas are less densely populated than the sheltered wine-growing areas on both sides of the Rhine valley which are very popular with tourists.

The Alpine foothills embrace the Swabian-Bavarian highlands with their hills and large lakes in the south, broad gravel plains, the hilly landscape of Lower Bavaria, and the Danube valley. Characteristic features of this region are the moors, dome-shaped hill ranges and lakes (Chiemsee, Starnberger See) as well as small villages.