With a height of 331 metres (1,086 ft), it overlooks the cities of Königswinter, on the right bank of the Rhine river, and Bonn on the opposite side.

In 1892 they opened up the eponymous hotel that could easily be reached via the newly built Petersbergbahn, a rack railway that continued in intermittent operation until 1958.

After World War II the Hotel Petersberg became the seat of the Allied High Commission for Germany.

When the lease expired in 1969, the Hotel Petersberg quickly ran into economic difficulties and was closed shortly thereafter.

In 1978, the government bought the Petersberg with its buildings from the Mülhens family for 18.5 million DM to develop a representative guest house for its visitors.