As it continues it runs through the towns of Schauenstein, Selbitz and Naila, before flowing through the Höllental between Hölle and Blechschmidtenhammer cutting a channel into the dolorite rock up to 170 m (560 ft) deep.

In the village of Hölle, a district of Naila on the left bank of the Selbitz, a 262-metre-deep (860 ft) mineral spring, the Höllensprudel, has been bored.

From the mouth of the Thüringische Muschwitz at the exit of the Hölle Valley and at its own confluence with the Saale near Blankenstein, the Selbitz forms the border between Bavaria and Thuringia for about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi).

At almost any point the level of the Selbitz could rise theoretically without causing any problems, because it is mostly surrounded by meadows and in the town of Naila flows through a natural, but reinforced, channel between the station and the bridge by the football pitch.

The area through which the river runs is surrounded to the left and right by strips of grassland that are used as meadows for sheep-grazing during times of the year when there is no snow.