Fichtelgebirge, Mountain range in northeastern Bavaria, Germany

This granite range forms a horseshoe shape in northeastern Bavaria, with the Schneeberg rising to 3448 feet (1051 meters) and the Ochsenkopf reaching 3360 feet (1024 meters). Forests cover most slopes, while open plateaus and rounded summits mark the upper sections, connected by broad valleys and gentle ridges.

Miners worked these hills for gold, tin, and iron from the Early Middle Ages onward, and small settlements grew around the shafts and forges. After the Thirty Years' War, many operations closed, and the region shifted toward farming and forestry.

The name Fichtel does not come from the spruce (Fichte) but from Sankt Veit, the mining pit on the Ochsenkopf recorded as Vythenberg in 1317. The massif is called the navel of Germany and wellspring of Europe because four rivers rise here and flow north, east, south and west. The Luisenburg Rock Labyrinth near Wunsiedel is a maze of granite blocks that visitors can walk through.

The Fichtelgebirge is a horseshoe-shaped range of linked ridges, with the Schneeberg at 1,051 m and the Ochsenkopf at 1,024 m; two chair-lifts run to the Ochsenkopf summit, one from Bischofsgrün in the north and one from Fleckl in the south. The main settlements include Wunsiedel in the heart of the range, Bayreuth and Hof on the edges, and Aš on the Czech side. The nature park covers 1,020 km² in Germany, while the Czech part covers 289 km².

Four large rivers begin in these hills: the Eger, Saale, and Main flow toward the North Sea, while the Naab joins the Danube and reaches the Black Sea. This watershed makes the area a rare meeting point of two major drainage systems in central Europe.