In the north the Gilserberg Heights transition directly into the clearly much higher Kellerwald with its prominent hills, the Jeust and the Wüstegarten; to the northeast into the Löwenstein Bottom, which is part of the Ostwaldecker Randsenken. Separated by the Wohra the ridge is adjoined in the northwest by the Burgwald at the Gilserberg Heights. In the southwest the Ohm and the flat Amöneburg Basin follows by the Neustadt Saddle and the Northern Vogelsberg Foreland. The Vogelsberg Foreland goes in the extreme southwest – again with the Ohm as its boundary – into the Lumda Plateau. The Lumda Plateau is part of the so-called Anterior Vogelsberg, which adjoins east of the Ohm valley in the south the Lower Vogelsberg. Like the actual Vogelsberg it belongs to the East Hesse Highlands. To the east of the three parts of the Upper Hessian Ridge is the West Hesse Depression in the shape of the Schwalm by the Eder tributary of the same name.
The Gilserberg Heights are mostly forested; large parts of the northern area belong to the TreysaState Forest, its southwestern spur near Burgholz to the Rauschenberg State Forest and the Kirchhain Municipal Forest. Whilst in the north, in the immediate neighbourhood zum noch gut 200 m höheren Kellerwald, noch Höhen von bis zu 470.6 m erreicht, flacht der Höhenzug nach Süden auf die maximale Gipfelhöhe von 379.1 m ab.
Neustadt Saddle
The very narrow, north-south oriented Neustadt Saddle is the lowest part of the Rhine-Weser watershed between the Kellerwald and the Vogelsberg. The Main-Weser Railway crosses it between Stadtallendorf and Neustadt at a height of about, the B 454 federal highway also crosses it at just under. Whilst the Neustadt Saddle forms the actual low point on the ridge between the plateau of the Krückeberg to the north and the Wahlen Plateau to the southeast, the Neustadt Saddle natural region also includes the Krückeberg, but not the Wahlen Plateau.
The Neustadt Saddle is part of the Mediterranean-Mjøsa Zone, a sequence of valleys that runs from the Rhone valley along the Upper Rhine Graben, the Wetterau and the Gießen Basin, below the Anterior Vogelsberg to the Amöneburg Basin; from there via the Neustadt Saddle in the West Hesse Depression and on along the Leine Graben to the Oslo Graben.
Northern Vogelsberg Foreland
The north of the Northern Vogelsberg Foreland is, in the immediate vicinity of the Neustadt Saddle, dominated by an entirely cleared plateau up to 388 metres high, around the villages of Wahlen, Arnshain und Gleimenhain in the borough of Kirtorf. Here there are various wind farms, the views extend in good weather as far as e.g. the Hoher Meißner, 70 kilometres away to the northeast, and is unbroken in almost all directions of the compass. In the northwest lies the forest of Herrenwald which barely reaches in height, near Stadtallendorf, the south is also largely wooded. In the southwest flows the Gleen, which in the south is part of the boundary stream of the Lower Vogelsberg.
Hills (selection)
Hundskopf − extreme north of the Gilserberg Heights
Dachsberg − highest point on the cleared plateau in the north of the Northern Vogelsberg Foreland on the Rhine-Weser watershed, immediately south of the Neustadt Saddle near Arnshain
Burgholz − extreme southwest of the Gilserberg Heights; observation tower
Kohlkopf − in the west of the Treysa State Forest, Gilserberg Height
Hochberg − local hill of Homberg which, thanks to clearance, has a good view of the southwest boundary of the Northern Vogelsberg Foreland with the Lumda Plateau
Krückeberg − cleared plateau in the north of the Neustadt Saddle, which is immediately next to the southern end of the Gilserberg Heights and is linked by the actual saddle to the southeastern Wahlen Plateau
Nellenberg − kuppe-like local hill of Neustadt with castle ruins on the southern end of the Neustadt Saddle
Places
The Gilserberg Heights lie within the counties of Schwalm-Eder-Kreis and Marburg-Biedenkopf, the Neustadt Saddle mainly within Marburg-Biedenkopf and the Northern Vogelsberg Foreland mainly in the Vogelsbergkreis. Important settlements are Gilserberg in the north, Jesberg on the northeastern edge, Schwalmstadt on the eastern side, Kirchhain on the western boundary, Stadtallendorf and Neustadt in the centre and Homberg and Kirtorf on the southern boundary.
