It is located in the country's mid-hills on the northern fringe of the Kathmandu Valley and named after Shivapuri Peak at 2,732 m (8,963 ft) altitude.

It covers an area of 159 km2 (61 sq mi) in the districts of Kathmandu, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchowk, adjoining 23 Village Development Committees.

The typical vegetation of the park is middle hill forest from 1,000 to 1,800 m (3,300 to 5,900 ft) of altitude, consisting of: In higher elevations, a variety of medicinal herbs prosper.

[2] In the western part of the park, herpetologists encountered monocled cobra, Himalayan keelback, olive Oriental slender snake, yellow-bellied worm-eating snake, variegated mountain lizard, Oriental garden lizard, many-keeled grass skink, Sikkim skink, black-spined toad, long-legged cricket frog and horned frog in the summer of 2009.

[8] Ornithologists recorded 318 species of birds including Eurasian eagle-owl, slender-billed scimitar-babbler, white-gorgeted flycatcher, barred cuckoo-dove and golden-throated barbet.