Sélestat is located in central Alsace, 22 km (14 mi) north of Colmar and 47 km (29 mi) south of Strasbourg, on the left bank of the Ill River.

Sélestat is near the Alsace wine route, and other notable sites such as the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg.

The city is one of the richest and most varied in terms of architecture among the smaller cities of Alsace. Most remarkable are the Romanesque St. Faith's Church and the Gothic St. George's Church, the Baroque clock tower (1618) and the neo-medieval water tower. Buildings like the town hall (1788), the railway station (1880s) and the synagogue (1890s), as well as several Renaissance and Baroque civil houses are similarly noteworthy.

The Humanist Library displays one of the oldest and most homogeneous collections of medieval manuscripts and Renaissance books in Europe. Its core is the still almost intact library of Beatus Rhenanus, that had been bequeathed to the city and kept by it ever since.

Sélestat is the cultural center of central Alsace and is the seat of the Fonds régional d'art contemporain Alsace (FRAC Alsace) (contemporary art in and of Alsace) and of the Pôle d'archéologie interdépartemental rhénan (PAIR) (archaeology of and in Alsace).