OBERBAYERN - Geography and history
Upper Bavaria is bordered to the south by the Alps and flanked in the north by the glaciated foothills of the Alps. The Alps and their foothills with their lakes (Chiemsee, Königssee and Starnberger See) constitute one of Germany's most important tourist regions. The northernmost part of Upper Bavaria actually extends beyond the Danube at Eichstätt into the terraced relief of the Franconian Stufenland.
Upper Bavaria is central Europe's gateway to Italy and the southeast. The motorways from Ulm via Munich to Salzburg and from Nuremberg via Kiefersfelden/ Kufstein to the Brenner pass are two of Germany's busiest traffic routes. Munich's second airport, opened in 1992, will ensure that Upper Bavaria is well equipped to serve as a meeting place between southern and eastern Europe. In 2001 Munich handled 26 million passengers, which made it Germany's busiest airport after Frankfurt am Main.
Administratively, Upper Bavaria is divided up into three kreisfreie Städte (Munich, Ingolstadt and Rosenheim), 20 rural districts and 497 municipalities. Almost the half of Bavaria's area of 17 530 km2 is used for agricultural purposes, one third is woodland and 10.2% is built up.
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