St Leonards is 8.5 kilometres (5.3 mi) northeast of Dunedin's city centre, between the small settlement of Burkes and Sawyers Bay.

[4][5] Rail and road links between central Dunedin and Port Chalmers run alongside St Leonards on the narrow strip of land between the hill slopes and harbour.

The suburb consists mainly of two roughly parallel roads, the Dunedin-Port Chalmers highway (State Highway 88), which runs close to the harbour, and St Leonards Drive, the former main route to Port Chalmers, which winds around the lower slopes of the hills on which St Leonards sits.

The Port Chalmers Branch railway line runs parallel with the highway next to the harbour's edge.

[6] The suburbs of St Leonards, Maia, Burkes, and Ravensbourne, are often collectively referred to as West Harbour.