The neighboring landscapes are the Westphalian Lowland in the west, Hase valley in the north, the hilly Ravensberg Basin in the northeast, Lippe Uplands in the east, and Egge Range (German: Eggegebirge) in the south.

Except for a short area south of Osnabrück, which belongs to the Bundesland of Lower Saxony, the whole forest is part of North Rhine-Westphalia.

A long-distance hiking trail called Hermannsweg runs for 156 kilometres (97 mi) along the length of the Teutoburg Forest, from Rheine in Münsterland to Leopoldstal near Horn-Bad Meinberg.

Recent excavations suggest that at least the final stages of the battle took place further northwest, at Kalkriese, north of Osnabrück.

[5] The Teutoburg Forest is composed of two separate nature parks: Arminius (also known as Hermann the Cherusker), leader of the Germanic tribes during the battle, became something of a legend for his overwhelming victory over the Romans.

However, the old name survived among the local population and the part of the ridge around the Ebberg (309 m or 1,014 ft) near Bielefeld is still known as the Osning today.