The Ellwangen Hills belong to the Keuper Uplands and lie about 65 kilometres northeast of the city of Stuttgart and around 67 kilometres (both as the crow flies) east-southeast of the city of Heilbronn between the Haller Plain to the north, the Franconian Heights and the Virngrund to the east, the Härtsfeld to the south, the Frickenhofer Höhe to the southwest and the Limpurg Hills to the west.

They are situated south of Frankenhardt, west of Rosenberg and Ellwangen, northwest of Hüttlingen, east of Adelmannsfelden, Bühlerzell and Bühlertann and southeast of Obersontheim and Vellberg.

Apart from its western hillside, the whole kuppe is treeless and offers views over much of the Ellwangen Hills, to the south as far as the Albtrauf.

Several footpaths meet on the kuppe: from Burgberg to the north, Bühlerzell to the west, Orrotsee to the east and from Ellwangen to the southeast.

For many years a branch of the Way of St. James also ran here, coming from Rothenburg ob der Tauber over the castle hill to the church and then on to Abtsgmünd-Wöllstein heading for Switzerland.