Around 1221, a nobleman, who according to tradition from the 18th century was called Günther of Kibenfels, gave his daughter Adelheid land in Günterstal.

However, Günther von Kibenfels cannot be the town's namesake because "Günter" appeared in the place name much earlier.

The community around Adelheid joined the Cistercian order, which, especially since Bernhard of Clairvaux had also preached in Freiburg, sparked enthusiasm during the Crusade movement.

After the death of Adelheid's father, his other possessions were also passed on to the monastic community, including the "Kibenfels" castle (on the Kybfelsen mountain).

In the period from 1728 to 1738, a completely new, baroque nunnery complex was built according to plans by Peter Thumb, under the abbess Maria Franziska Cajetana von Zurthannen, who came from the Black Forest and was as pious as she was energetic.

As an "island" within the district of Freiburg, the people of Günterstal had to participate in the maintenance of the road network.

After the incorporation into Freiburg, the transportation system improved, due to the construction of the tram line in 1901.

Initially, the entrepreneur family Hermann rebuilds part of the monastery buildings and established a brewery.

The colourful windows were created by the local class painters Helmle & Merzweiler, they were installed from 1885 to 1902.

The reredos, side-altars and die steps of the pulpit were redesigned, by Petter Hillenbrand, an architect, during a renovation from 1998 to 2002.

Here his vanguard, led by Gustav Struve, they are met by the student Hermann Mors, who reports that Freiburg changed side on the 22 of April 1848 and now supports the partisans, and are waiting for the Freischärler (troops/irregulars) of Sigel.

Disregarding the orders from Sigel, Struve takes his 400 men through the Günterstal towards the end of the valley.

The "Stiftung Waldhaus" constructed a four-story high wooden house for 2.1 million euros.

[4] In the closest district Wiehre, there is the Forest Experimental and Research Establishment of Baden Württemberg.

The busses are running each 15 to 20 minutes to the cable car station, and each hour a bus calls at Horben.

The vegetation here is very interesting, not only because of the colours, but due to its shape: thuja, cypress, and different pine trees.

The tallest tree in Germany is in Mühlwald, a part of the Arboretum Freiburg-Günterstal,[12] a Douglas fir with a trunk circumference of 300 cm at the base, and a height of around 65 metres.

The measurement in March 2017, commissioned by the municipal forestry office, resulted in a height of 66.581 m.[14] The measurement from 19 November 2019 resulted in 67.18 m.[15] After years of planning and arguments the state of Freiburg promised a subsidy of 8.8 million euros for the construction of a 13.5 metre-high, 275 metre-long, and up to 80 metre-wide embankment dam in the Bohrertal to Horben boundary.

After the city made replacement land available to the Horben farmer, the legal dispute ended.

There are also plans to increase the height of the existing flood control reservoir on the Breitmatte by two metres between the districts of Günterstal and Wiehre.

The ground-breaking for the Bohrertal dam took place in February 2020, and construction on the Breitmatte should begin in the summer.