High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. The highest point is the Donnersberg (687 m) near Kirchheimbolanden. The Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald) covers more than a third of the region and is the largest coherent forest in Germany. The eastern part is lower, and is a well known wine region. The German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstrasse) passes through the Palatinate wine region. Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the plain rhine rift in the east of the region, near the Rhine River, which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate.