It flows in the municipalities of Laurierville and Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, in the L'Érable Regional County Municipality (MRC), in the administrative region of Centre-du-Québec, in Quebec, in Canada.

The main neighboring hydrographic slopes of the Barbue River are: The Barbue River rises at the boundary between the municipalities of Laurierville and Lyster.

This area is located 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) south of the Bécancour River, 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) south of the village bridge of Lyster and 4.9 kilometres (3.0 mi) northeast of the center of the village of Laurierville.

From its source, the Barbue River flows on 15.8 kilometres (9.8 mi) in the following segments: The Barbue River flows into a bend in the river on the east bank of the Noire River at 2.9 kilometres (1.8 mi) upstream of the (route 265) of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes.

The toponym "rivière Barbue" was made official on December 5, 1968, at the Commission de toponymie du Québec.