Hohenems' attractions include a Renaissance palace dating back to the 16th century, a Jewish history museum, and the old town center.

The town is located at 432 metres (1,417 feet) above sea level, about 16 km (10 miles) south of Lake Constance.

Hohenems is divided into the neighborhoods of Markt (centre), Oberklien and Unterklien (north), Hohenems-Reute (east), Schwefel (south) and Herrenried (west).

The summit of the Schlossberg rock, within 45 minutes walk from the town center, is crowned by the ruins of Alt-Ems, a castle dating back to the 9th century CE.

Religious wars and a plague decimated the population and devastated the area over the next century, ironically the time of the greatest power of the (Protestant) Counts of Hohenems, when they acquired Vaduz Castle from what was later to become Liechtenstein.

Jewish economic activity in the town resulted in the first coffee house in 1797, and in 1841, the first bank and insurance company in Vorarlberg.

The Jewish presence in town was terminated in 1942 with the deportation of the last remaining Jew, Frieda Nagelberg, to Vienna and eventually to Izbica.

[8] The Jewish quarter, which has had historical preservation status since 1996, includes numerous townhouses and mansions surrounding the synagogue.

Along with the former Christengasse ("Christian Lane"), renamed Marktstrasse (Market Street), it forms the urban core of Hohenems.

[9] 2004–2015: Richard Amann Since December 2015: Dieter Egger (born 1969) Apart from the historical sites, the town center is rapidly developing a modest urban ambience, with hotels, shops, and restaurants.

The town boasts of the largest recreational centers (13 hectares) in Vorarlberg,[10] situated on the banks of the river Rhine's oxbow lake.

Bernard Levin mentions Hohenems in his book Conducted Tour (1982) as being the location of a music festival where all the works of Franz Schubert were performed in chronological order.