Vosges and Northern France

Most of Northern France consists of the western end of the European Plain - a rolling countryside with few significant hills, none reaching 400 metres in height.  In the west, stretching across the border of the Régions of Lower Normandy and Pays de la Loire, and into Brittany, are the hills of the Armorican Massif, reaching their highest point on Mont des Avaloirs 416m/292m in Pays de la Loire.  Further east, in the Région of Champagne-Ardenne, the plain is abutted on its northern side by the Plateau des Ardennes, most of which lies in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. Further east the terrain becomes more hilly, with some of the hills (those which do not form part of the Vosges Massif) in the Lorraine Région reaching over 500 metres.  

The Vosges range stretch along the west bank of the River Rhine in a NNE direction from north of Basel in Switzerland to Mainz in Germany for a distance of 250km.  Most of the range, including all the summits of 1000m and over, is situated in France.  The range forms the west flank of the Rhine rift valley, while the Black Forest in Germany, which is of similar latitude and geological formation, forms the east flank. 

The range is divided into four sections, which are, from south to north: 

• The Grandes Vosges, some 100km in length, extending from Belfort in the south to the valley of the Bruche.  The rounded summits of this area are called ballons.  Their average altitude is around 1100m.

• The Central Vosges, extending from the Bruche to Saverne for 50km.  The summits here tend to be narrower and more pointed.  Their average altitude is around 900m.

• The Lower Vosges, extending from Saverne in France to the source of the Lauter for 48km.  The average altitude of the plateau is around 500m.

• The Hardt, wholly in Germany.

In the southern sections the Vosges are mainly of granite formed in the Carboniferous Period (354 to 290 million years ago) laid down on a bed of gneiss dating from the Pre-Cambrian Period (2800 to 545 million years ago).  There are also some porphyritic masses.  Further north the plateau is mainly of red sandstone.  These rock formations were lifted up around 50 million years ago during the Eocene Period as part of the same mountain forming period that created the European Alps.  During the Quaternary Period (2 million years ago) the western side of the range developed an ice plain, while on the eastern side, which is much steeper, small glaciers carved out the typical glacial features which can be seen today in the Grandes Vosges. 

The lower slopes are now deforested, but higher up there is extensive coniferous forest on all but the highest summits, which are open grassland.  The western side of the range receives most of the rain/snowfall and has a much lower mean temperature.  Vines grow on the eastern flanks of the range up as high as 400m (1300ft).  There is no permanent snow on the range.

The range reaches its highest point on Le Grand Ballon de Guebwiller (1424m) at the southern end of the range, which is 1072m in prominence.  The second highest summit is Le Hohneck (1362m).  Although this summit is over 25km along the ridge from Le Grand Ballon, it is only 186m in prominence.

The list that can be downloaded below consists of all the hills and mountains in Northern France in the Régions of Nord-Pas de Calais, Upper and Lower Normandy, Picardy, Ile de France, Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine and Alsace that have at least 150 metres of prominence.

• Hills & Mountains of Northern France - e-booklet version

• Hills & Mountains of Northern France - print-booklet version