The municipality lies at the foot of the Haardtkopf (658 m above sea level) in the Hunsrück.

Gornhausen belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Bernkastel-Kues, whose seat is in the like-named town.

[3] The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per fess azure three mullets in fess argent and argent a castle emerging from base with a central tower embattled and two side towers with conical roofs sable, the windows and gateway of the field.

Worth seeing in Gornhausen are a 300-year-old oak, an old mill (Klaramühle), the Berbelay (crags with a good view), the Haardtkopf Transmitter and a view into the Eifel and the Moselle region around Bernkastel-Kues.

In summer, mostly in early August, Gornhausen is, together with the other municipalities in the former County of Veldenz, the host of the ADAC Deutschlandrallye.