The mountain chain consists of two major regions of terrain, the High Vosges in the south and the Low Vosges in the north near the German border. As the name might suggest, the highest peaks are found in the High Vosges region.
The mountains form part of the Central European Uplands which stretch east to west across Europe north of the Alps and also include diverse upland regions such as the Black Forest, the Ardennes and the Bayerischer Wald or Bavarian Forest.