Simmern (German pronunciation: [ˈzɪmən]; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde. In the Rhineland-Palatinate state development plan, it is set out as a middle centre.
Simmern, through whose municipal area the 50th parallel of north latitude runs, lies in the Hunsrück in the so-called Simmerner Mulde (“Simmern Hollow”). The old town centre is found in the valley of the Simmerbach, while the newer neighbourhoods are spread over the surrounding heights. The Külzbach empties into the Simmerbach on the town’s western outskirts. East of the town is a recreational area with a manmade lake, the Simmersee. South of the town is the town forest, which forms the edge of the Soonwald, a heavily wooded section of the west-central Hunsrück.
The municipal area measures 1 196 ha. Of interest to visitors are Simmern’s value as a nature and leisure site,…