The Bavarian Prealps (German: Bayerische Voralpen) are a mountain range within the Northern Limestone Alps along the Austria–Germany border. They include the Bavarian Prealp region between the river Loisach to the west and the river Inn to the east; the range is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and 20–30 kilometres (12–19 mi) wide. The term is not defined politically, but alpine-geographically because, although the range is mostly located in Bavaria, southeast Germany, small areas of the Bavarian Prealps lie in the state of Tyrol (e.g. the Hinteres Sonnwendjoch south of the Rotwand), Austria.
The term is not to be confused with the Bavarian Alps or the Bavarian Alpine Foreland. These terms include the whole of the alpine region (together with parts of the Wetterstein, the Karwendel, etc.) and the whole Alpine Foreland on Bavarian state territory.
Except in the Ester Mountains in the extreme west, the summits of the Bavarian Prealps are all below 2000 metres in height and only a few have prominent limestone cliffs.