The Franconian Heights lie in the west of Franconia on either side of the border between Bavaria in the east (with the counties of Neustadt a.d.Aisch-Bad Windsheim and Ansbach) and Baden-Württemberg in the west (Schwäbisch Hall and a small area of the Ostalbkreis).
The Franconian Heights, whose plateau has a hill country character in places, lie south of the somewhat lower hills of the Steigerwald, east of the Hohenlohe Plain and northeast of the Ellwangen Hills and not quite half way on a line from Nuremberg to Stuttgart, east of Rothenburg.