Abstract In order to portray the main differences and similarities between the Northeastern Variscan segments (French Massif Central (FMC), Vosges, Black Forest and Bohemian Massif (BM)), we review their crustal-scale architectures, the specific rock associations and lithotectonic sequences, as well as the ages of the main magmatic and metamorphic events. This review demonstrates significant differences between the ‘Moldanubian’ domains in the BM and the FMC. On this basis we propose distinguishing between the Eastern and Western Moldanubian zones, while the Vosges/Black Forest Mountains are an intermediate section between the BM and the FMC. The observed differences are the result of, first, the presence in the French segment of an early large-scale accretionary system prior to the main Variscan collision and, second, the duration of Saxothuringian/Armorican subduction, which generated long-lived magmatic arc and back-arc systems in the Bohemian segment, while the magmatic activity in the FMC was comparably short-lived.