Hohenzollern Castle
Hohenzollern Castle is a hilltop castle located on the Berg Hohenzollern, an isolated promontory of the Swabian Jura (NHN) above sea level, above and to the south of Hechingen, Germany approximately south of Stuttgart, capital of Baden-Württemberg. This mountain lends its name to the local geographic region, "der Zollernalbkreis", and is known among locals as "Zollerberg" (Zoller Mountain), or simply "Zoller".
Sigmaringen Castle
Sigmaringen is located on the southern edge of the Swabian Jura, a plateau region in southern Baden-Württemberg. The Hohenzollern castle was built below the narrow Danube river valley in the modern Upper Danube Nature Park (German: "Naturpark Obere Donau"). The castle rises above the Danube on a towering chalk projection that is a spur of the white Jura Mountains formation. The hill is known simply as the "Schlossberg" or Castle Rock. The "Schlossberg" is about long and up to above the river. On this free-standing towering rock, the princely Hohenzollern castle is the largest of the Danube valley castles. The sheer cliffs and steep sides of the tower made it a natural site for a well-protected medieval castle.