Hurley is a linear development perpendicular to and adjoining the Upper Thames 4 miles (6.4 km) NW of Maidenhead and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) ENE of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on the A4130 road. The parish includes the considerable hamlets of Cockpole Green, Warren Row, Knowl Hill, Burchett's Green and part of Littlewick Green.

Ashley Hill Forest, almost 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the village is close to and almost equidistant between Warren Row, Knowl Hill and Burchett's Green and is the largest woodland. Other than this the parish is mainly agricultural however many farms have spinneys of woodland adjoining.

Historic structures:

• By the river is the Scheduled Ancient Monument, Hurley Priory, a partially moated Benedictine priory founded in 1086 as a cell of Westminster Abbey. The priory was dissolved in 1536, but its priory church survives as the current parish church.
• 'The Olde Bell' Inn in Hurley is reputedly the oldest still-working inn in Britain; parts of the inn date to 1135, when it was the hostelry of Hurley Priory.
• The old manor estate of Hall Place (1728) is now the home of Berkshire College of Agriculture.
• The Manor House in the High Street was used as Station Victor, forming part of Operation Sussex.
• The former main priory building became a mansion known as Ladye Place, which stood adjoining the present parish church. It was the home of the Barons Lovelace. It was demolished in 1837 as uninhabitable.
• The Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) also had a facility at Hurley until 1992.