Bensheim

Bensheim (ˈbɛnsˌhaɪ̯m) is a town in the Bergstraße district in southern Hessen, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhine plain. With about 40,000 inhabitants (2016), it is the district's biggest town. The town lies at the eastern edge of the Rhine rift on the slopes of the western Odenwald on the Bergstraße. The nearest major cities are Darmstadt (some to the north), Heidelberg (some to the south), Worms (some to the west) and Mannheim (some to the southwest). The district seat of Heppenheim lies roughly to the south. The Lauter flows through Bensheim, coming from the Lauter valley from the east, which after it passes through Bensheim is known as the Winkelbach. In the south of town runs the Meerbach, also coming from the Odenwald (but from the Zell valley). Mostly channelled underground and only coming above ground at the western edge of town is the Neuer Graben, or “New Channel”, which branches off the Lauter. Bensheim borders in the north on the town of Zwingenberg and the communities of Alsbach-Hähnlein und Seeheim-Jugenheim (both in Darmstadt-Dieburg), in the east on the community of Lautertal, in the south on the town of Heppenheim and in the west on the town of Lorsch and the community of Einhausen. Bensheim is roughly subdivided thus: The main town east of the railway line (old town and outskirts) with many modern town expansion developments (for example the neighbourhoods of Brunnenweg, Metzendorf, Griesel, Meerbach and Hemsberg); The Weststadt (“West Town”) west of the railway line (for example the neighbourhoods of Port Arthur, Marokko, Leibweh and Kappesgärten); The outlying centre of Auerbach to the north of the main town on the Bergstraße; The outlying centres of Hochstädten, Schönberg, Wilmshausen, Gronau and Zell in the nearer Odenwald valleys; The outlying centres of Langwaden, Fehlheim and Schwanheim in the Hessisches Ried (part of the Rhine rift in Hesse).