According to one theory, Hocheppan Castle was built around 1125 by Count Ulrich II of Eppan as a stronghold (Trutzburg).

In 1158, after the Eppans had ambushed a Papal delegation, the castle was destroyed in a punitive expedition under Henry the Lion, but was then rebuilt.

In 1834, Emperor Francis I enfeoffed the castle to Martin Teimer von Wildau.

Dominating the castle is the high pentagonal bergfried, a shape which is rare in the Tyrol, whose condition is endangered by a deep fissure in the masonry.

About ten minutes walk from Hocheppan is the Chalk Tower (Kreidenturm), a separates outwork of the castle.