The Alpine foothills, or Prealps (; ; ; ), may refer generally to any

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...

at the base of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in Europe. They are the transition zone between the

High Alps The High Alps are the parts of the Alps unsuitable for habitation or seasonal transhumance. This includes all regions higher than 3,000 m above sea level, as well as most regions between 2,500 m and 3,000 m ( Juf at 2,126 m is the highest permanen ...

and the Swiss Plateau and the

Bavarian Alpine Foreland The Alpine Foreland, less commonly called the Bavarian Foreland,Dickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, pp. 585-586. . Bavarian Plateau or Bavarian Alpine Foreland (), refers to a tria ...

in the north, as well as to the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...

(

Alpokalja Alpokalja (English "feet of the Alps") is a mountainous region in western Hungary. Its highest point is Írott-kő at 882 metres above sea level. Although there are several lower mountains, the majority of the territory is hilly. Fir Firs are ...

) in the east, the

Padan Plain The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

in the south and the Rhone Valley in the west.

Classification

The Alpine foothills comprise: *The

French Prealps The French Prealps ( ); are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line running from Chamo ...

** Savoy Prealps **

Dauphiné Prealps The Dauphiné Prealps () are a mountain range in the south-western part of the Alps. They are located in Rhône-Alpes and, marginally, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (south-eastern France). Dauphiné Prealps are the central section of the French ...

** Provence Prealps *The

Swiss Prealps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiograph ...

*The Northern Prealps, part of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. The distinction from the ...

: **

Bavarian Prealps The Bavarian Prealps () are a mountain range within the Northern Limestone Alps along the Austria–Germany border. They include the Bavarian Prealp region between the river Loisach to the west and the river Inn River, Inn to the east; the range is ...

in southeastern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Prealps, part of the

Salzkammergut Mountains The Salzkammergut Mountains () are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, located in the Austrian states of Salzburg and Upper Austria. They are named after the Salzkammergut historic region, part of the Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammerg ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Upper Austrian Prealps The Upper Austrian Prealps () is a mountain range in Austria which, according to the Categorisation of the Eastern Alps, covers the region between the valley of the Traun ( Gmunden) in the west and the Enns valley in the east, from Steyr in the ...

** Lower Austrian Prealps, leading to the

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (, ) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese ...

*The Southeastern Prealps, borderline of the Alps to the Pannonian Basin in Austria and Slovenia: **

Prealps East of the Mur The Prealps East of the Mur () are the easternmost mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps. They comprise the eastern foothills of the Alpine crest beyond the Mur river and the adjacent southeastern Alpine Foreland. Boundary and neighbourin ...

Lavanttal Alps The Lavanttal Alps (, ) are part of the Central Eastern Alps in Austria and Slovenia, between the river Mur in the north and the Drava in the south. The mountains are named after the central valley of Lavanttal and the Lavant River which runs i ...

Styrian Prealps The Styrian Prealps (in German ''Steirisches Randgebirge'', in Slovenian ''Štajersko Robno hribovje'', in Hungarian ''Stájer Elő-Alpok'') is the proposed name for a subdivision of mountains in a new, and as yet unadopted, classification of t ...

Slovenian Prealps The Slovene Prealps or the Slovenian Prealps (, , ) are a group of mountain ranges in the eastern part of the Alps. They are located in Slovenia and, for a small part of their northernmost area, in Austria. Geography SOIUSA classification Ac ...

Pohorje Pohorje (), also known as the Pohorje Massif or the Pohorje Mountains (, ''Bacherngebirge'' or often simply ''Bachern''), is a mostly wooded, medium-high mountain range south of the Drava River in northeastern Slovenia. According to the traditio ...

*The Southern or Italian Prealps, usually divided into: ** Julian Prealps **

Venetian Prealps The Venetian Prealps (''Prealpi Venete'' in Italian) are a mountain range in the south-eastern part of the Alps. They are located in Triveneto, in the north-eastern part of Italy. Geography Administratively the range is divided between the It ...

Bergamasque Prealps The Bergamasque Prealps () are a mountain range within the Alps. The range is located in Lombardy, in the north of Italy. Geography Administratively the range belongs to the Italian province of Bergamo and, to a lesser extent, to the provinces o ...

Lugano Prealps The Lugano Prealps (''Prealpi Luganesi'' or ''Prealpi Lombarde Occidentali'' in Italian language, Italian) are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Canton Ticino (southern Switzerland) and Lombardy (northern Ital ...

Brescia and Garda Prealps The Brescia and Garda Prealps (''Prealpi Bresciane e Gardesane'' in Italian) are a mountain range in the southern part of the Alps. They are located mainly in Lombardy but also in Trentino Alto Adige and in Veneto, in the northern part of Italy. ...

From the geological point of view, the Alpi Cusiane and a small part of the

Biellese Alps The Biellese Alps (''Alpi Biellesi'' or ''Prealpi Biellesi'' in Italian) are a sub-range of the Pennine Alps located between Piemonte and Aosta Valley (Italy). Etymology ''Alpi Biellesi'' literally means ''Alps of Biellese''; ''Biellese'' is th ...

ranges of the

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (, , , ), sometimes referred to as the Valais Alps (which are just the Northern Swiss part of the Pennine Alps), are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Italy (the Aosta Valley and Piedmont) an ...

are also considered to be in the Prealps.

Gallery

File:Monti Lessini (pascoli estivi).jpg, Pastures on the Lessini Mountains, in the

File:Presolana 01.JPG, Pastures on

Monte Pora Monte Pora is a mountain of Lombardy, Italy. It is located within the Bergamasque Prealps (a sub-range of Bergamo Alps). Winter sports A ski resort on the mountain offers a total 21 km of ''Piste A ''piste'' () is a marked ski run ...

with a view of Presolana, in the

File:Bauroux.jpg, Panorama from Mount Bauroux, in the Provence Prealpes File:Col du Jorat - Dent du Salantin.jpg, Summit of the Dent du Salantin, in the Savoy Prealps File:Le Dévoluy.JPG, Landscape of Devoluy, in the

File:Matajur003.JPG, Panorama of the Mia and Matajur mountains, in the Julian Prealps File:Benediktenwand, 1800 m.jpg, The north face of the

Benediktenwand The Benediktenwand (formerly the ''Kirchstein'') is a mountain ridge in the Bavarian Prealps between the rivers Loisach and Isar and the Jachenau in the south and Benediktbeuern Abbey, from which it derives its name, in the north. Immediately ...

Notes

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Foothills Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...

Classification

Gallery

See also

Notes