The district is largely mountainous and its highest point is 2,988 metres (9,803 ft) high Pik Martena located in the Kodar Range.

It borders with Yakutia (Sakha Republic) in the north and northeast, with Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai in the south and southeast, and with the Mamsko-Chuysky District in the west.

The Zhuya river cuts across the district and the Bolshoy Patom flows in a wide arch to the west and to the north.

Besides Bodaybo, some of the settlements of the district are Aprilsk, Artyomovsky, Balakhninsky, Kropotkin, Mamakan, Svetly, Vasilievsky, Perevoz and Bolshoy Patom.

[11] Within the framework of administrative divisions, Bodaybinsky District is one of the thirty-three in the oblast.