Jiuquan City is located in west section of the Hexi Corridor in northwestern part of Gansu Province. Neighbors around are Zhangye City adjacent to the east, Qinghai Province to the south, the Xingjian Vigor Autonomous Region to the west and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and the Mongol to the north. It has jurisdiction over 7 administrative divisions namely Suzhou district, Dunhuang City, Yumen City, Jinta County, Anxi County, the Subei Mongolian Autonomous County and the Akesai Kazak Autonomous County.

Jiuquan is vast in territory with a total area of 191,000 square km, which is almost one-third of the whole province's. Physical features are comparatively higher in south and lower in north, and generally speaking, the terrain slopes from southwest to northeast .

The mountainous region lying in the south edge consists of a series of groups of high peaks rising 3000-5000 meters. Basins are distributed in the middle part demarcated by the prominent zone, stretching in Jiayuguan Pass. There are Jiuquan basin and Jinta basin dispersed to its east and basins of Yumen, Anxi and Dunhuang to its west. The north part is a vast expanse of Gobi desert adjoining the north mountainous region.

There are three river systems of Shulehe, Heihe and Haertenghe, rising in area of accumulated snow and glaciers on the south mountains, having annual runoff about 30.23 billion cubic meters, which is main water sources for daily life, industry and irrigation. The amount of runoff is unstable and there are great disparities of amount in different periods of year. Time from July to October is period of plentiful water and the rest of the year is lasting dry season.