Naturpark Augsburg - Westliche Wälder

Naturpark Augsburg - Westliche Wälder stretches across 1,175 square kilometres in Bavaria, forming one of two nature parks in Bavarian Swabia. Its gentle hills rise between the Danube and the Bavarian Alpine Foreland. Streams including the Schmutter, Neufnach, and Zusam shape undulating plateaus and flat interfluves across the landscape. Forests cover nearly half the area, alongside extensive grassland.

Founded in 1988, the nature park lies mainly in Augsburg district and reaches three neighbouring districts. Five rivers border it: the Danube, Wertach, Schmutter, Flossach, and Mindel. Welden anchors the northern Holzwinkel, while Dinkelscherben and Reischenau sit within the central landscape. South of the Thannhausen to Stadtbergen line, the Stauden brings together villages, churches, and traditional farm buildings.

Near Oberschönenfeld Abbey, the Nature-Park-House presents the exhibition Nature and Men in the Nature-Park. A rebuilt thatched Staudenhaus and the Swabian Folklore and Crafts Museum preserve regional rural traditions. Streitheim has a people’s observatory, while Haldenburg near Schwabegg and Fuggercastle Kirchheim add medieval and Renaissance history. Kirchheim’s Cedarhall remains a distinctive Renaissance interior, alongside pilgrimage churches at Violau and Maria Vesperbild.