Alsfeld is a town in the center of Hesse, in Germany. Large towns nearby are Bad Hersfeld about to the east, Fulda  to the southeast, Gießen  to the west and Marburg an der Lahn about to the northwest. Alsfeld is located on the upper part of the Schwalm in the northern Vogelsberg Mountains and just to the south of the Knüll Mountains at the western edge of the Alsfeld basin. In 1961, the town hosted the first Hessentag state festival, in 1985 the 25th.