[2] Zwingenberg lies on the western edge of the Odenwald at the foot of the Melibokus, at 517.4 m above sea level the Bergstraße's highest mountain.

The municipal area's elevation varies between roughly 90 m above sea level in the outlying centre of Rodau and just under 300 m on the slope of the Melibokus.

Under the windbreak afforded by the Melibokus, a microclimate holds sway, which can in places near the slope lead to less precipitation than is found, for example, on the plain.

Zwingenberg lies between the community of Alsbach-Hähnlein in Darmstadt-Dieburg in the north and the town of Bensheim in Bergstraße district in the south.

In the east Zwingenberg borders on the Melibokus, whose peak lies in the area of Auerbach, an outlying centre of Bensheim.

That it is an ancient town can be gathered from all facts.”[3] The earliest mention of locum getwinc is a document from 1015 in which Emperor Heinrich II donated hunting rights to the Lorsch Abbey.

Through his marriage to Hildegard von Henneberg, Henry II of Katzenelnbogen, whom King Konrad III raised to Count in 1138, had parts of the Bergstraße pass to him about 1135.

The county was divided into upper and lower halves, with the former lying on the Rhine around Sankt Goar and the latter in southern Hessen.

Count Wilhelm I of Katzenelnbogen, Diether V's son, had allied himself with four Rhenish electors and raised tolls on the Rhine, the upshot to which was damage to free trade and a declaration of war from King Albrecht I.

In 1454, Count Philipp I of Katzenlenbogen agreed that Hans IV of Wallbrunn (whose seat was Wallbrunn[6]) should provide a widowhood estate for his wife Lucie von Reifenberg consisting of, among other things, the house and a number of gardens at Zwingenberg, which Hans held from the Count as a fief, although without the military service obligation.

Owing to the abandonments during the Thirty Years' War and shortly thereafter the Plague, the town was for decades almost uninhabited, and eventually, a fire set by French troops in 1693 destroyed most of the houses.

In the time of National Socialism, Jews and the Nazis' political foes were driven out and deported.

The composition of the town council after the four latest municipal elections: From 2001 to 2007, Dieter Kullak (independent) held office.

[8] On 23 February 2025, Sebastian Clever (CDU) won with 54.9% and a voter turnout of 83.4% against the independent candidate Stefan Juchems, who is a member of the Green Party.

Although the economy was formerly largely based on agriculture and winegrowing, as well as gastronomy, since then, besides a great number of commercial enterprises, a series of smaller and midsize technology businesses has arisen.

At Zwingenberg's highest spot stands today's youth hostel, a former tithe barn built on a bastion’s foundation.

These were built outside the old town wall owing to the danger from fire, and today are used mainly as dwellings, offices and guesthouses.

The vaulted cellar under the Alte Apotheke (“Old Apothecary’s Shop”), which stands on the marketplace, seems to go back to the time when the town wall was built.

White grape varieties grown here include Sylvaner, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau and Morio Muscat.

In the vaulted cellar under the former Amtsgericht is found the Theater Mobile, which puts on its own and others’ productions mainly in the fields of music, reading, children's theatre, dance and cabaret.