The city's most striking physical feature is the broad green valley of the North Saskatchewan River, running diagonally northeast to southwest through the city center. The downtown area lies north of the river, between 95th and 109th streets.

The Edmonton street system is a grid with numbered streets running north-south (numbers decrease as you go east) and numbered avenues running east-west (numbers decrease as you go south). Edmontonians often use the last digit or two of large numbers as shorthand for the complete number: the Inn on 7th is on 107th Street; the 9th Street Bistro can be found on 109th Street. Edmonton's main drag is Jasper Avenue, which runs east-west through the center of downtown.