Lower Franconia (Unterfranken)
Lower Franconia (German: Unterfranken) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria (seven regions), Germany (22 regions in five Federal States, 11 Federal States are not subdivided into regions).

Lower Franconia is located in the northwest of Bavaria and is the most northern of the seven Bavarian administrative districts, yet its located right in the heart of Germany. It borders on the Bavarian administrative districts Middle Franconia and Upper Franconia and it also borders on these German Federal States: in the northwest on Hesse, in the northeast on Thuringia and in the southwest on Baden-Württemberg.

Wine growing is an over 1200 years old documented tradition of Lower Franconia. The Franconian wine (Frankenwein) is considered as one of the top-quality wines of Germany and is an absolute top-quality product in Europe. The three largest and the two oldest wine-growing estates of Germany are located in Lower Franconia. Its also famous for its medical health spas (Heilbäder), three of the five Bavarian "Staatsbäder" (medical spas) are located in Lower Franconia. The largest river in Lower Franconia is the Main, its the back bone and life-line of this region.

The district was formed in 1817 under the name of Untermainkreis (Lower Main District) and renamed in 1837 as Unterfranken und Aschaffenburg (Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg). In 1933 the regional Nazi Gauleiter Otto Hellmuth insisted on renaming the district Mainfranken, but after 1945 the name Unterfranken was resurrected.

Unterfranken is the north-west part of Franconia and consists of three district-free cities ("Kreisfreie Städte") and nine country districts ("Landkreise").

The major portion of the Franconian wine region is situated in Lower Franconia.


Some of the major cities and towns:
Aschaffenburg  Bad Kissingen  Haßberge
Kitzingen  Main-Spessart  Miltenberg
Rhön-Grabfeld  Schweinfurt Würzburg
Ochsenfurt

"In our travels we stayed in the town of Ochsenfurt and while attending a wine festival became very good friends with a couple from Eibstadt.  We continued to visit with our friends for many years.  Eibstadt is the heart of the wine country and Ochsenfurt is located on the Main River. It has be subject to floods as have many towns and cities along the Main River.  We completely enjoyed our times in this area.  Eibstadt is a short distance from Würzburg and much time was spent here.  I had visited this town way back in 1961 and several times after. The slide show on this page shows some of sights in around the area.

You can also view a separate video of Würzburg by clicking here. "