Zwiesel (German pronunciation: [ˈtsviːzl̩] ⓘ) is a town in the lower-Bavarian district of Regen, and since 1972 is a Luftkurort with particularly good air.

The name of the town was derived from the Bavarian word stem zwisl which refers to the form of a fork.

In addition to be accessed by the federal road B11, the town of Zwiesel has a main railway station run by the Bavarian Forest Railway, where trains depart for Plattling, Bayerisch Eisenstein or Bodenmais at hourly intervals, and for Grafenau at two-hour intervals.

The most famous mining site is probably the quartz quarry at Hennenkobel mountain (the name translates as 'chicken coop') where many rare and popular minerals were found.

The Zwiesel weather station has recorded the following extreme values:[5] According to the legend, the first settlers were gold diggers.

On 11 September 1560, the municipality of Zwiesel was granted the coat of arms by the Duke of Bavaria, Albert V, which is valid still today.

In 1904 Zwiesel was raised to the status of a town and quickly became the economic and cultural centre of the middle part of the Bavarian Forest.

Today this factory operates under the name of Zwiesel Kristallglas and is an important producer of goblets in Germany.

Near the end of World War II, at noon on 20 April 1945, several houses were destroyed in a bombing raid on the railroad bridges, killing 15 civilians.

An event in recent town history was the Bavarian State Exhibition "Bavaria – Bohemia: 1500 Years of Neighborliness".

The Augustinian monastery Maria Trost (Order of Saint Augustine), founded by Sudeten German monks and belonging to the Vicariate of Vienna, has been located here since 1962.

After the 1803 Bavarian Edict of Religion by Prince-Elector Maximilian, Protestant Christians started settling in Zwiesel.

[12][13] Since May 2006 Zwiesel has been twinned with the port town of Brake, Lower Saxony, at the river Weser.