The municipality covers a total area of 1,538 square kilometres (594 sq mi) in the valley of the Berg River to the west of the Boland mountain ranges.

Paarl is the southernmost part of a continuous built-up area along the Berg River which also includes Mbekweni (pop.

Mbekweni was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982.

The northern area around Gouda and Saron, as well as an area around Du Toit's Kloof Pass, formed part of the Breërivier Regional Services Council (RSC); the rest formed part of the Western Cape RSC.

The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held.

Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the DCs; the area that was to become Drakenstein Municipality included much of the Paarl TRC (belonging to Winelands DC) and parts of the Witzenberg and Matroosberg TRCs (belonging to Breërivier DC).

In the election of 1 November 2021 the Democratic Alliance (DA) obtained a majority of thirty-six seats on the council.