It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Aichach-Friedberg, Fürstenfeldbruck, Starnberg, Weilheim-Schongau, Ostallgäu and Augsburg.

In the final stages of World War II, the German Armaments Ministry and the SS established the Kaufering concentration camp, including 11 subcamps in the general area of Landsberg and Kaufering.

[2] A dramatization of the discovery and liberation of the camp was presented in Episode 9: Why We Fight of the Band of Brothers mini-series in the year 2001.

The district is dominated by the Lech with its numerous barrages, the Ammersee, the rural communities in the south reaching as far as the foothills of the Alps and the large district town of Landsberg am Lech situated at the junction of the Bundesautobahn 96 (Munich-Lindau) with the Bundesstraße 17 (Augsburg-Füssen-Austria).

The Bavarian-Alemannic language border runs through the district, essentially along the Lech.