Gemünden is located in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, on the Main, around 40 km downriver from Würzburg.

Gemünden lies on the Birkenhainer Strasse, an ancient trade road from Lower Franconia to today's Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

Gemünden's Stadtteile are Adelsberg, Aschenroth, Harrbach, Hofstetten, Hohenroth, Kleinwernfeld, Langenprozelten, Neutzenbrunn, Reichenbuch, Schaippach, Schönau, Seifriedsburg, Wernfeld and Massenbuch.

The town, which likely had grown out of an early fishing village at the confluence of the three rivers, had its first documentary mention in 1243 in an agreement between Prince-Bishop of Würzburg Hermann I of Lobdeburg [de] and Countess Adelheid of Rieneck.

[3]: 28 The castle above the town, the Scherenburg, had been built by the Rienecks to control the shipping on the Main and the eastern terminus of the Birkenhainer Strasse, an important trade route in the Middle Ages.

Owing to the town's strategically important location as a railway hub, two thirds of it was destroyed by Allied bombing raids and fighting towards the end of the Second World War.

Film-Photo-Ton (“Film-Photo-Sound”) Museum in the Huttenschloss in Gemünden There are the Scherenburgfestspiele (festival) in July and August in the inner courtyard at the Scherenburg ruins.

This is run by Festspielverein der Stadt Gemünden e.V.. Heimatfest is a local festival held every year on the fairgrounds on the opposite side of the Franconian Saale from the town's pedestrian precinct.

Over Gemünden's town centre rise the ruins of Scherenburg, a castle also known as Schloss Scherenberg, which once belonged to the Counts of Rieneck.

It also stands as a token of good collaboration between the Gemünden am Main Historical Society and the Kaisersteinbruch Museum and Cultural Club.

Furthermore, the Franconian Saale Valley Railway (Fränkische Saaletalbahn) branches off at Gemünden, running to the spa town of Bad Kissingen.