Nestled at 3,400ft in the Sahyadri mountains of the Western Ghats, Chikmagalur is situated in the south-western part of Karnataka. Barely 250km from state capital Bangalore, it lies at the foothills of the Baba Budan range and offers an ideal getaway for those looking at a quiet weekend. Typical of Ghat topography, the town offers unending vistas of mountains, streams, and coffee and pepper plantations. A number of rivers, such as Bhadra, Hemavathi, Tunga, Netravathi and Vedavathi, originate in the hills surrounding the town. Chikmagalur today serves as the headquarters of a district by the same name. It was here that coffee was first cultivated in India in 1670 by Baba Budan, a Muslim saint who brought coffee seeds from Yemen, and after whom the mountain range to the north of the town is named. Later taken up by European planters, coffee production and trade has since been Chikmagalur's mainstay.

Chikmagalur is connected by road and rail to Bangalore, Hassan and Mangalore. The nearest airport is Mangalore (170 kms).