The reserve is situated just north and east of the city of Miass, in the Chebarkulsky District of Chelyabinsk Oblast.

[1][2] The Ilmensky Reserve is located on the east slope of the southern Urals, where the terrain flattens from low mountains (400 meters altitude) to a district of lakes and rolling hills.

This climate is characterized by large swings in temperature, both diurnally and seasonally, with mild summers and cold, snowy winters.

[2] The dark taiga is to the west, on the mountain ridges; Ilmen is more in a pine and birch forest subzone.

Because 9% of the reserve is lake and river, the surrounding floodplains and dead birch trees provide a good habitat for mushrooms which are an object of study at the site.

The museum is a major regional center of education in the natural sciences, receiving 50 thousand visitors per year.