The village with about 620 inhabitants is situated in the Herp valley at the foot of the Geba and Huts mountains.

The first castle complex as a border fortress is said to have been built on the Hutsberg around 430 AD. The village was first mentioned in a document in 856 as Helmrichshusun. Many of the village's alleyways are lined with valuable Franconian half-timbered houses and numerous listed buildings. The considerable size of these buildings indicates that Helmershausen has always been a hub for trade and administration and thus a central point in the Vorderrhön region.

The church, the "Cathedral of the Rhön", is an important architectural monument in the village. Helmershausen is home to former knights' residences: the Black Castle, the Yellow Castle, the Henneberger Freihof and the Red Castle, which today houses the administration of the Rhönblick unified municipality.

Helmershausen includes the village of Geba on the Geba plateau, the forcibly resettled hamlet of Gereuthof and the village of Schmerbach on the state border, which was forcibly resettled in the 1970s.