The Orenburg Region is situated in the southern foothills of the Ural Mountains, mainly around the basin of the River Ural, however it is part of the Volga Federal District. It shares borders with the Samara Region, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and the Chelyabinsk Region, as well as a long state border with Kazakhstan.

The administrative centre is the city of Orenburg which was founded in the mid-18th century as a fortress to aid Russia’s conquest and incorporation of Central Asia. Its second city of Orsk was also founded for the same reason a decade later. The city of Sol-Iletsk is known as a balneological resort and the salty waters of Lake Razval are often compared to the Dead Sea.