Cham lies within the Cham-Furth lowland, which is bordered on the south by the Bavarian Forest and on the north by the Oberpfälzer Wald.

In fact, a few kilometers from the city, a winding stream called the Chamb flows into the Regen; it probably gave its name to Cham, the first settlement at the bend of the larger river.

An imperial castle of the Holy Roman Empire stood on the Galgenberg (German: "gallows hill"), providing protection for the trade route into Bohemia.

In 1742, the Pandur troops of Franz Freiherr von der Trenck overran and destroyed the city.

The arrival of numerous German war refugees from Silesia and the Sudetenland swelled Cham's population from 5,860 to over 10,000.