Eppelheim is situated in the valley of the Upper Rhine southwest of the hills of the Odenwald and directly on the Bundesautobahn 5.

Eppelheim borders the Heidelberg boroughs of Wieblingen in the North, Pfaffengrund in the East, and Kirchheim in the South.

Another center in the Rhein-Neckar metropolitan region is Mannheim, about 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Eppelheim.

Eppelheim does not have any boroughs, but locals orient on the directions of the compass and refer to the parts of the city that way.

Eppelheim was first mentioned in historical documents pertaining to a grant in the year 770 in the Lorsch codex under the name Ebbelenheim.

The village, like so many others in the area, was burned down by French troops on 28 January during the War of the Grand Alliance.

Intracity connections are offered by Eppelheim's bus line 732, run by Busverkehr Rhein-Neckar GmbH as the so-called City-Bus.