Saale is the name of two rivers in Germany: the Saxonian Saale (German: Sächsische Saale) and the Franconian Saale (German: Fränkische Saale). The Franconian Saale is a right-bank tributary of the Main, in Lower Franconia. This article is about the larger, and better known Saxonian Saale (sometimes called the Thuringian Saale), tributary of the Elbe.

Course

The Saale originates between Bayreuth and Hof in Upper Franconia (Bavaria), springing out of the Fichtelgebirge at an altitude of 728 m. It pursues a winding course in a northern direction, and after passing the manufacturing town of Hof, enters Thuringia. It flows amid well-wooded hills until it reaches the pleasant valley of Saalberg . Here it receives the waters of the Schwarza , in whose valley lies the castle of Schwarzburg , the ancestral seat of the princes of the formerly ruling house of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

From Saalberg the Saale enters the limestone formation of the Thuringian Forest, and sweeps beneath the barren, conical hills lying opposite to the university town of Jena. It enters Saxony-Anhalt and passes the spa of Bad Kösen , washes numerous vine-clad hills and, after receiving at Naumburg the deep and navigable Unstrut, flows past Weissenfels , Merseburg, Halle, Bernburg and Kalbe , and joins the Elbe just above Barby, after traversing a distance of 413 km. (It has been shortened from its natural length of 427 km.)

It is navigable from Naumburg with the help of sluices, and is connected with the Weiße Elster near Leipzig by a canal. The soil of the lower part of its valley is of exceptional fertility, and produces, amongst other crops, large supplies of sugar beet. Among its tributaries are the Weiße Elster, Regnitz and Orla on the right bank, and the Ilm , Unstrut, Salza , Wipper and Bode on the left. Its upper course is rapid. Its valley, down to Merseburg, contains many castles which crown the enclosing heights.