The range is located in the eastern part of Southern Africa, running for some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from south-west to north-east. The mountains drain on the western slopes by the Orange and Vaal rivers, and on the east and south by a number of smaller rivers, the Tugela being the largest. Looming over the nearby coast of Natal the range covers the border between KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa and the Drakensberg mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

A Guide to the Drakensberg describes the escarpment as lying "parallel to the south-eastern coast of South Africa from the Northern Province to the Eastern Cape."[1] In the vicinity of Giant's Castle, it "swings to the south-west and enters the Eastern Cape", splitting there into the separate ranges of Stormberg, Bamboes, Suurberg, Nieuveld and Komsberg.

Towns and cities in the Drakensberg area include: in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa; Ladysmith, the large town Newcastle, the former Zulu capital Ulundi, the coal-mining centre Dundee and Ixopo; and further south Matatiele and Barkly East in Eastern Cape Province South Africa; plus all of Lesotho, whose capital is Maseru. The hilly landscape extends north from the Drakensberg as Swaziland, whose capital is Mbabane.