 It is located at the right side of the river Unstrut, between the towns of Heldrungen and Artern.It has a station on the Sangerhausen–Erfurt railway line, where a now-decommissioned line once branched off to Bad Frankenhausen and Sondershausen.The earliest known documented mention of Bretleben is as "Bretalaho" in an early 9th century document.