The Windberg hill, is the town's local mountain and well-known landmark, rising about 100 metres (330 ft) above the valley floor.

The lowest part of the town is the point where the Weißeritz enters the territory of the city of Dresden (about 195 metres (640 ft) above sea level).

There are no natural lakes; the tailing pond near the slag heap and the Zauckerode retention basin were both constructed in the 20th century.

Neighbouring municipalities in Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge are from the east and clockwise: Bannewitz, Rabenau, Höckendorf, Tharandt and Wilsdruff.

Freital consists of the following Stadtteile (divisions):[3] The town's recorded history begins with the well-known Dresden Document (Dresdner Urkunde) of 1206 in which noblemen appear to be named after Potschappel, Döhlen and Wurgwitz.

There is some likelihood that this was a line of vassals of the burgraves of Dohna, who were heavily involved in the colonisation and expansion of their estates in the areas of Rabenau and Dippoldiswalde.

The lords of Wurgwitz, whose history is readily traceable, were simultaneously colonising land at the behest of the Bishop of Meissen and were - at least under Bruno of Porstendorf - close allies.

The ducal official, Hans Biener Moritz, was granted coal mining privileges by the Duke of Saxony.

Afterwards he founded the "Baron of Burgke Coal and Iron Works" (Freiherrlich von Burgker Steinkohlen- und Eisenhüttenwerke).

The upswing was economically so significant that coal mining around the area of Plauen (Plauenscher Grund) was technically and organizationally ranked among the best in Germany for several decades, roughly until the 1870s.

Almost one in ten townsfolk are members of the SPD, which ran a large number of clubs and leisure activities and turned Freital into a "welfare island".

In 2018 a federal prosecutor jailed eight members of the far-right terrorist group called "Gruppe Freital", for a number of crimes including attempted murder and terror offences.

Prosecutors said the group's members attempted to create a "climate of fear" with a series of attacks on their enemies, political opponents and refugees.