What is a geopark?
A geopark is an area with a clearly defined boundary that contains geotopes that are outstanding, scientifically significant, rare and beautiful and represent the landscape and its geological development.
A Geopark is, so to speak, a "seal of approval" for a geologically important and interesting area.
National Geoparks
Currently there are 18 certified National Geoparks in Germany. They are, in addition to the Geopark Thüringia Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen:
- Geopark Bayern-Böhmen
- Geopark Bergstraße-Odenwald
- Geopark Grenzwelten
- Geopark Harz.Braunschweiger-Land.Ostfalen
- Geopark Kyffhäuser
- Geopark Laacher See
- Geopark Muskauer Faltenbogen
- Geopark Porphyrland.Steinreich in Sachsen
- Geopark Ries
- Geopark Ruhrgebiet
- Geopark Sachsens Mitte
- Geopark Schieferland
- Geopark Schwäbische Alb
- Geopark TERRA.vita
- Geopark Vulkaneifel
- Geopark Vulkanregion Volelsberg
- Geopark Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus
These geoparks are all shown on overview map.
The National Geoparks have joined forces in a working association (Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher Geoparks, AdG). Since April 2016, the AdG is legally anchored with rules of procedure within the Section Geotopes and Geoparks of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geologie - Geologische Vereinigung (German Geological Society, DGGV e.V.).
For more information about the network and the individual geoparks visit the joint internet portal www.geoparks-in-deutschland.de. Here you can discover the German National Geoparks in an image video on Youtube.
The GeoUnion Alfred-Wegener-Trust is also an excellent source of information about the geoparks in Germany.
You can download the current brochure (2023) of the geoparks organised in the AdG here (13 MB) or browse through it here (external link). The brochure is currently only available in German.
