Bavarian Forest National Park

Bavarian Forest National Park (Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a large protected area in eastern Bavaria established in 1970 as Germany’s first national park and set aside to restore and protect temperate forest ecosystems. The park covers roughly 24,000 hectares of forested highlands and mountain ridges and places emphasis on natural regeneration and old-growth beech and spruce stands.

Trails and designated visitor routes lead into extensive wilderness zones where forestry has been largely withdrawn and natural processes such as decay and regeneration are encouraged. The park supports native wildlife populations and has been the focus of species reintroduction and monitoring projects in recent decades, with opportunities for hiking, wildlife observation and environmental education.

Located along the Czech border, the park adjoins the Šumava/Bohemian Forest region and forms part of a broader Central European forest landscape. The nearest larger Bavarian towns are Grafenau and Zwiesel; access is by regional roads into the national park’s visitor centres.

• Founding: Established in 1970 as Germany's first national park, the area is managed to allow natural processes to dominate large tracts of forest.
• Cross-border connection: Forms a continuous conservation landscape with the neighbouring Czech Šumava/Bohemian Forest across the border, creating an extended cross-border wilderness area.