The main range of Nanling Mountains stretch west to east about 600 kilometers (370 mi) from Guilin and Hezhou of the eastern Guangxi to Ganzhou of the southern Jiangxi, north to south about 200 kilometres (120 mi) from Yongzhou and Chenzhou of the southern Hunan to Qingyuan and Shaoguan of the northern Guangdong; With their branches, the mountains run west to east 1,400 kilometers (870 mi).

In the Nanling, there form trough corridors, tectonic fault basins or watersheds, where are relatively low and not difficult to climb, between the natural gorge channels and the river systems in the north and south of the Nanling are natural channels, people-to-people exchanges are easy.

The Nanling mountains are a regional biodiversity hot spot for endemic species of plants, birds and amphibians.

Areas south of the ranges are tropical in climate, permitting two crops of white rice to be grown each year.

Ion adsorption clays are mined by open-pit methods in the Nanling region, and form a major source of rare earth elements in the world.