Lõuna-Eesti is situated in the southeastern part of Estonia. Its landscape is noteworthy for its natural beauty, round hills and picturesque outcrops of red Devonian sandstone on the Ahja, Piusa and Võhandu rivers.
Lõuna-Eesti covers 15 799 km². In terms of landscape the main areas are the Southeast Estonian Plateau intersected by numerous primeval valleys, and the Sakala, Otepää and Haanja uplands. The higher areas of the Plateau are covered with fields, while marshes and forests predominate in low-lying areas. The greatest variety of landscape features in all of Estonia can also be found here. The soil here tends to have a fertile moraine surface cover and is for the most part cultivated.
The longest rivers are the Võhandu (162 km), Põltsamaa (135), Pedja (122), Piusa (109 km) and Emajõgi (101 km) rivers. The Koiva (Gauja) River in the southeast forms the frontier with Latvia over a distance of 26 km. The Otepää and Haanja uplands possess abundant small lakes. The largest lake is Lake Võrtsjärv (266 km²). The area of the second largest lake, Lake Saadjärv, is only 7 km². Lõuna-Eesti also has Estonia´s deepest lake, Lake Rõuge Suurjärv (38 m). Valga and Võru counties rank first and second among Estonian counties by the number of lakes. There are large mires at the mouth of the Emajõgi (the Emajõe Suursoo mire, 203 km²) and in the Võrtsjärv depression (the Sangla mire complex, 323 km²). Also most of the Endla mire complex (251 km²), the Soosaare mire (127 km²) and the Kuresoo bog (108 km²) are situated in Lõuna-Eesti.
Louna-Eesti is neighbored by following regions:
|Regions of Estonia|