Taoyuan City is located in northwestern Taiwan. It is bordered by New Taipei City to the north and east, Hsinchu County to the south, Yilan County to the southeast, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. The geography of the city is highly diverse, transitioning from a coastal plain to a series of plateaus, and finally into rugged mountain ranges.
The defining geographical feature of the urbanized area is the Taoyuan Plateau, an elevated, flat plain interspersed with thousands of man-made irrigation ponds. These ponds historically supported the region's agriculture before much of the land was converted to industrial and residential use. The Shimen Reservoir, one of Taiwan's largest and most important reservoirs, sits in the southern part of the city, supplying water to Taoyuan, New Taipei, and Hsinchu.
The region features lush forests in the mountainous southeast and a coastline facing the Taiwan Strait that includes notable wetland ecosystems and coastal sand dunes, such as the Guanyin Algal Reefs.