The borough covers an area of 11.31 square kilometres and (as of December 2020) has about 86,000 inhabitants.

[1] Despite being one of Düsseldorf's smallest boroughs by area, Stadtbezirk 1 includes several distinct quarters: the city's Medieval Altstadt is known as an entertainment district with plenty of Altbier pubs and bars, while the adjacent Baroque-style Carlstadt has a very Bohemian character.

The entire borough has a high density of institutions and enterprises associated with the arts and culture in general.

The Rheinufertunnel is part of Bundesstraße 1 and runs some 2 km along the right Rhine side, diverting car traffic away from the streets.

Two large bridges cross the river into the left-Rhenish quarter of Oberkassel.