[1] Its adjacent provinces are Samsun to the northwest, Tokat to the southwest, Sivas to the south, and Giresun to the east.

Ordu is a strip of Black Sea coast and the hills behind, historically an agricultural and fishing area and in recent years, tourism has seen an increase, mainly visitors from Russia and Georgia, as Ordu boasts some of the best beaches, rivers, and lush, green mountains on the Black Sea coast.

Hazelnuts production takes around 88% of Ordu's arable land, the remainder mainly consists of corn and wheat fields.

Whilst covering only 0.1% of the arable land of the province, Ordu's kiwi production is the second largest in the country after Yalova.

[5] In recent decades many people from Ordu have migrated away to jobs in Bursa, Samsun, Sakarya, Istanbul (where almost 500,000 people of Ordu descendent live) or abroad (espacially to Austria).