Located in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, it has a latitude and longitude of 11°5′N 39°44′E / 11.083°N 39.733°E / 11.083; 39.733 with an elevation between 1842 and 1915 meters above sea level.

Some guide books describe Kombolcha as the twin town of Dessie which lies some 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the northwest.

Tadesse Tamrat records that archeologists discovered "some remains of Christian settlements", dated to the late first millennium of the current era.

[3] When the missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf was led as a prisoner from Adare Bille's capital to the Teledere House in April 1843 he had passed through Kombolcha, which he described as a village near the source of the Borkana River.

However, the highway from Kombolcha to Assab was not fully brought under TPLF control until the Derg was expelled from Tigray later that year.

[8] Al Jazeera and BBC reported that WFP suspended food distribution in Dessie and Kombolcha due this mass looting of the supplies.

[21] The $90 million Kombolcha Industrial Park was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and has attracted companies from the US, South Korea, and Italy.