Donaueschingen lies in the Baar basin in the southern Black Forest at the confluence of the Brigach and Breg rivers—the two source tributaries of the Danube—from which the town gets its name.

The municipal area extends continuously from the granite and gneiss of the Black Forest through the Triassic formations of the Schwarzwald-Baar talus to the Swabian Alb, and exhibits all strata of the southern German cuesta country.

A model showing the extraordinary geological setting of the city and its surrounding region is located in the park opposite the train station.

The hospital never received casualties on a large scale from military operations; it saw the most activity in 1989, when the United States offered the facility as temporary housing for refugees leaving from East Germany to the West.

Though the Princes of Fürstenberg were nominally mediatised and deposed as absolute ruler of the principality, they still own huge property in their former lands, including their palace with the surrounding parks and gardens.

The most important industries are machine assembly, semiconductors, injection moulding, magnetics, dyes, and shoe manufacturing.

It sits on the Schwarzwaldbahn line from Offenburg to Konstanz and it is the start of the Höllentalbahn from Donaueschingen to Freiburg im Breisgau.

Three federal highways meet in the vicinity of Donaueschingen: the B 27 from Stuttgart to Schaffhausen; the B 31 from Freiburg im Breisgau to Lindau and the B 33 from Offenburg to Konstanz.

Guest composers have included Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter, John Cage, and György Ligeti.