Roorkee is situated in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district. It is covered over a flat terrain and surrounded with the Himalayas in the east and north-east. The city is surrounded by the banks of the Ganges canal. These canals are its dominant feature and flows north–south through the city.
One of the country's oldest cantonment is located in Roorkee and is known as Roorkee Cantonment.