Badong County is located in western Hubei Province and is administered by the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. It borders Wushan in Chongqing, and the Yangtze River runs through the county from west to east. The county seat sits at the eastern mouth of Wu Gorge in the Three Gorges region, positioned between Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, about sixty kilometers from the Three Gorges Dam.

The county contains thirty–nine kilometers of navigable Yangtze waterway, making it an important part of the Three Gorges Reservoir area. After the completion of the Three Gorges Project, the original Badong old town was fully submerged. The present county seat was rebuilt in Yuntuo, upstream from the former site. The new town rises along the mountainside, with buildings ascending in tiers, creating the distinctive appearance of a city suspended on a slope.