Palatinate Forest
The Palatinate Forest (, ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771 km and its highest elevation is the Kalmit (673 m).
Luitpold Tower
The tower stands on the territory of the municipality of Merzalben in the middle of the Palatine Forest at the highest point of the Weißenberg (610 m above sea level (NN)). The tower is 1.4 kilometres from Hermersbergerhof and may be reached on foot in 10 to 20 minutes. In good weather 457 named places can be identified: in the Palatinate, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in French Alsace and the Saarland, and the viewing platform has 12 direction tables that enable easy orientation. In good conditions, for example, the following may be seen: the Donnersberg (highest peak in the Palatinate region, 42 km distant, visibility ca. 42%), the Kalmit (highest mountain in the Palatine Forest, 20 km, visibility ca. 82%,), the Donon (highest mountain of the northern Vosges, 96 km, visibility ca. 8%) and the Hornisgrinde (highest mountain in the northern Black Forest, 77 km, visibility ca. 14%).