The air spa of Sontra is known as Berg- und Hänselstadt, with Bergstadt referring to the time when there was bituminous shale mining (“mining” is Bergbau in German) in town, and Hänselstadt to the town's former membership in the Hanse.

Sontra’s 15 Ortsteile, besides the main town, also called Sontra, are Berneburg, Blankenbach, Breitau, Diemerode, Heyerode, Hornel, Krauthausen, Lindenau, Mitterode, Stadthosbach, [Thurnhosbach] de:Thurnhosbach, Ulfen, Weißenborn, Wichmannshausen and Wölfterode.

In 1232, a Kunigunde de Suntraha was named, who on a visit to Saint Elizabeth’s grave in Marburg experienced healing.

In the centre of Donnershag, which is part of Sontra, the settlement society known as Freiland-Freigeld was resident in the 1920s.

The municipal election held on 6 March 2016 yielded the following results:[3] in comparison the elections in 2011:[4] The town's executive (Magistrat) is made up of nine councillors, with four seats allotted to the SPD, three to the CDU and one each to the FWG and the FDP.

However, the German blazon specifies that the lion (which is the Lion of Hesse, the main charge in Hesse's state coat of arms) should be a neun Mal von Silber und Rot geteilter Löwe, or “barry of nine”, that is, with nine horizontal stripes.