The municipality covers an area of 1,708 square kilometres (659 sq mi) stretching along the coast of the Overberg, from the eastern edge of False Bay almost to Cape Agulhas.

At its western end it is separated from the City of Cape Town by the Kogelberg mountains; to the north it is separated from the Theewaterskloof Municipality by the Kogelberg and the Kleinrivier Mountains; and to the east it abuts on the Cape Agulhas Municipality along a boundary that runs generally north-south just to the west of Elim.

The largest town is Hermanus, which is situated on the northern edge of Walker Bay next to the Klein River mouth.

To the south, on the opposite side of Walker Bay from Hermanus, is the second-largest town in the municipality, Gansbaai (pop.

Just south of Gansbaai, on the southern edge of the Danger Point peninsula, are Van Dyksbaai (pop.

Inland from Pearly Beach, separated from the coast by a range of hills, is the agricultural hamlet of Baardskeerdersbos (pop.

According to the 2022 South African census, the municipality had a population of 132,495 people, with an average annual growth rate of 5.0% from 2011.

By the end of the apartheid era in the early 1990s there were various local authorities established on a racially-segregated basis in the area that was to become Overstrand.

Municipal councils were elected by the white residents of the towns of Betty's Bay, Kleinmond, Onrusrivier, Hermanus, Stanford, and Gansbaai; and local councils by the white residents of the villages and holiday resorts: Pringle Bay, Rooi-Els, Vermont, Sandbaai, Pearly Beach, De Kelders, Kleinbaai, and Franskraalstrand.

The coloured areas of Kleinmond, Stanford, Hawston, Mount Pleasant and Gansbaai were governed by management committees subordinate to the white municipalities; and the black area of Zwelihle was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act.

The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held.

The ANC lost a seat to the newly formed National People's Party, as did the Independent Democrats, whose only representative in the Overstrand Council crossed over.

The DA won seventeen seats, the ANC four, the Land Party and the Freedom Front Plus two each, and the EFF and the ACDP one each.