The suburb is bordered by Haberfield to the west, Annandale to the east, Lilyfield to the north and Petersham, Lewisham and Stanmore to the south.

Neighbouring Darug bands were the Cadigal to the east, the Wallumattagal on the northern shore of the Parramatta River and the Bediagal to the south.

[3] In 1848, he famously vanished without trace on his attempt to cross the continent from the Darling Downs in Queensland to the Swan River Colony on the Western Australia coast.

The Norton Street commercial area contains a mix of residential buildings, restaurants (Italian and others), cafés, eateries and individual retail outlets, including several bookstores and grocery shops.

The Italian Forum, located just off Norton Street, is notable for its design which seeks to emulate the feel of a Mediterranean town piazza.

A pedestrian-only central courtyard featuring outdoors and indoors restaurant dining as well as Leichhardt Library is surrounded by small shops and boutiques on the level above, and all overlooked by residential apartments.

[6] The second shopping centre, MarketPlace Leichhardt (formerly Market Town), is located towards Haberfield on the corner of Marion and Flood Streets.

The City West Link runs along the northern border of Leichhardt and is a major arterial road, which is part of the A4 and crosses the Anzac Bridge to the CBD.

Being situated close to the city, Leichhardt is an area for great capital growth as it very central and has a lot to offer, so housing is not very cheap and is much sought after.

The following buildings are listed on the Register of the National Estate:[7] Leichhardt is home to many creative industry workers and is known for its colourful and inventive mural art,[9] such as the panorama at the Renwick Lane and at the Hawthorne Canal Railway Underpass.

[12] Leichhardt is the yearly host of the Italian Festa on Norton Street where local traffic is temporarily closed on Norton and neighbouring streets transforming surroundings into a huge European style outdoor café, celebrating Leichhardt's cultural diversity with an International Food Fair, gift stalls, community expos and live entertainment throughout the day.