From the confluence of its headwaters, south-east of Bad Königshofen, the Franconian Saale flows in a broadly southwesterly direction along the southeastern edge of the Rhön Mountains in central Germany.

The Franconian Saale is mentioned for the first time in the year 777 under the names Salu and Sala in a register from the town of Fulda.

Embankments and dams change its flow rate and consistency (Durchgängigkeit), destroying the unity of the river and meadow and encouraging devastating flooding.

For several years the water authority in Schweinfurt has instigated projects to try, at least in part, to return the Franconian Saale to its former ecological role by removing bank reinforcements, circumnavigating weirs and regenerating riparian woodland.

The Franconian Saale is a habitat for the European eel, Chub, Ide, Grayling, Brown trout, Stone Loach, Barbel Bitterling, Bream, Minnow, Perch, Gudgeon, Dace, Pike, Ruffe, Bullhead, Nase, Roach, Rudd, Burbot and Carp, as well as the occasional Signal crayfish.

[3] Towns and villages close to the Saale that are particularly affected by regular flooding are Bad Kissingen, Westheim, Diebach, Gräfendorf, Wolfsmünster and Gemünden, as the highwater marks on historic buildings show.

However, flood protection measures involving the construction of weirs and defensive barriers have been implemented in its historic town centre.