The ruins lie in the Hunsrück mountains between the Idar Forest to the north and the town of Idar-Oberstein to the south at a height of about 630 metres above sea level (NN) on the Wildenburger Kopf above the valley of the Idarbach.

The predecessor of the Wildenburg was probably a Celtic refuge fort with double ramparts from the La Tène period (ca.

The Wildenburg rampart is one of a number of Celtic fortifications in southern Hunsrück between the hillfort of Otzenhausen, the Ringkopf, the Altburg and the Alteburg in Soonwaldsteig.

In the Late Middle Ages Wildenburg was built by the Wildgrafen family on the rocks at the western tip of the circular rampart.

After being partially rebuilt in 1660, the lower ward of the castle acted as the administrative headquarters for the Amt of Wildenburg until the abolition of the county in the 1792.