Oberhof, Germany

Oberhof
Oberhof
Town
	Oberhof in August 2006
	Coat of arms
	Location of Oberhof within Schmalkalden-Meiningen district
	Oberhof Oberhof
	Coordinates: 50°42′19″N 10°43′33″E / 50.70528°N 10.72583°E
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
District	Schmalkalden-Meiningen
Government
• Mayor	Thomas Schulz
Area
• Total	23.47 km2 (9.06 sq mi)
Elevation	823 m (2,700 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	1,592
• Density	68/km2 (180/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	98559
Dialling codes	036842
Vehicle registration	SM
Website	www.oberhof.de

Oberhof is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district of Thuringia, Germany. It is a winter sports center and health resort. With 1,625 inhabitants (December 2016), it is visited by 144,000 tourists every year (2016).^[2] The town got its official city status in 1985.

History

Oberhof was settled in 1641, and remained a small town until the late 19th century, when the town, then in Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was connected to the railway line from Erfurt to Ritschenhausen, and skiers and other tourists discovered the place.

From the early 1900s onwards, Oberhof became a center for winter sports, with luge, nordic skiing, and ski jumping taking place in the town's regularly updated sports facilities. In recent years the town has also seen the construction of lift-equipped alpine skiing slopes and an international competition standard biathlon stadium. Their bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track has hosted many world and European championships in luge.

In August 2009 the first German ski tunnel opened in Oberhof.