The Suwa clan ruled the area since the Nara period, and the area developed as a castle town for Suwa Domain under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate and as a post station on the Kōshū Kaidō highway.

Suwa is located in central Nagano Prefecture, bordered on the north and west by Lake Suwa, approximately 100 kilometers south of the prefectural capital of Nagano city, and two hours by car from either central Tokyo or Nagoya.

Suwa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 15 members.

The Japanese Red Cross Society Suwa School of Nursing is also located in the city.

The characters Sanae Kochiya, Kanako Yasaka, and Suwako Moriya from the Touhou Project originate from this area.