Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) symptoms include hyperexcitability, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) treatment of rats with subsequent withdrawal of ethanol (EtOH) reproduced AWS symptoms in behavioral assays, which included tolerance to the sleep-inducing effect of acute EtOH and its maintained anxiolytic effect. Electrophysiological assays demonstrated a CIE-induced long-term loss of extrasynaptic GABAA receptor (GABAAR) responsiveness and a gain of synaptic GABAAR responsiveness of CA1 pyramidal and dentate granule neurons to EtOH that we were able to relate to behavioral effects. After CIE treatment, the alpha4 subunit-preferring GABAAR ligands 4,5,6,7 tetrahydroisoxazolo[5,4-c]pyridin-3-ol, La3+, and Ro15-4513 (ethyl-8-azido-5,6-dihydro-5-methyl-6-oxo-4H-imidazo[1,5alpha][1,4]benzodiazepine-3-carboxylate) exerted decreased effects on extrasynaptic currents but had increased effects on synaptic currents. Electron microscopy revealed an increase in central synaptic localization of alpha4 but not delta subunits within GABAergic synapses on the dentate granule cells of CIE rats. Recordings in dentate granule cells from delta subunit-deficient mice revealed that this subunit is not required for synaptic GABAAR sensitivity to low [EtOH]. The profound alterations in EtOH sensitivity and alpha4 subunit localization at hippocampal GABAARs of CIE rats suggest that such changes in these and other relevant brain circuits may contribute to the development of tolerance to the sleep-inducing effects and long-term dependence on alcohol.