Cherkasy is situated on the high right bank of the Dnipro River, in the middle of the Kremenchuk Reservoir. Relief of the historical part of the city was influenced by Zamkova (Castle) mountain, where Cherkasy Castle was situated. The major part of Cherkasy occurs as lowlands.

The city's length is 17 km (10.56 mi) along the Kremenchuk Reservoir, while its widest point is only 8 km (4.97 mi).

From the north-west, Cherkasy is surrounded by forest. Known as Cherkaskiy Bir, it is the biggest (28,500 hectares or 70,400 acres) natural pine forest in Ukraine.

Cherkasy is a big cultural center. Several theaters, philharmonic, 3 movie theaters, numerous museums and clubs are serving the city. The city has 3 indoor skating rinks. People can relax in big parks and gardens around the city, they can also visit city's zoo. Cherkasy is among the cities in Ukraine that have their own planetarium.

The biggest museums of Cherkasy are:

• Cherkasy Oblast Local History Museum – the collection of artifacts from the history, nature, culture, and ethnography of Cherkasy Oblast.
• "Kobzar" Museum of Taras Shevchenko – the only museum in the world about one book.
• Cherkasy Art Museum – big museum where different exhibitions are held throughout the year.
• Cherkasy Literary Memorial Museum of Vasyl Symonenko.
• Cherkasy Museum of Vyshyvanka

There are several theaters in Cherkasy, such as:

• Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Academic Drama Theatre of Cherkasy
• Cherkasy Academic Puppet Theater
• Youth Theater "Suchasnyk"

The city has its own philharmonic, which was created in 1955. The big cultural center is concert hall "Druzhba Narodiv" (Friendship of Nations), where all major concerts are held. Besides, there are numerous local cultural clubs.

The city has 4 modern movie theaters - "Salut" (a very old building, was the first cinema in Cherkasy), "Ukraine", "Dnipro Plaza" and "Lubava".

Cherkasy is famous as a green city. The main parks are Park Peremohy (Victory Park) with a zoo, Sobornyi Park (Cathedral Park), Juvileyniy Park (Jubilee Park), Park Himikiv (Park of Chemists), Dolyna Troiand (Rose Valley), and 2 chilred's parks. Traditional places of summer recreation are beaches of Dnipro River. The coastline of the city is as long as 15 kilometres (9 miles), and is usually represented with sand beaches. Infrastructure of the beaches is under development right now, although several recreational complexes are already built. On the northern end of the city, in Cherkasy Forest, sanatorium "Ukraine" is situated, along with three-star hotel "Ukraine", and "Kosmos-Bowling" club. There are also several hotels in the city which can accommodate people with different tastes.

The city is famous for its sculpture festivals - "Kryzhtal" (held in winter, sculptures are made of ice), "Drevlyandia" (held in summer, sculptures are made of wood, then placed in parks around the city), and "Zhyvyi Kamin" (held in autumn, sculptures are made of stone). Along with the last, "Cherkasy's Singing Nights" are held in the open-air theater in park. Since 2003, Cherkasy hosts international bike festival "Tarasova Gora", which gathers bikers from Ukraine, Russia, and other European countries. This is the biggest festival of this kind held in Ukraine.

The City also hosts a music festival (sponsored by Pentax-Richo), that takes the name "Takumar5555", that is the old Pentax brand name, and a play on the city's 55th year of independence.

During its whole history Cherkasy was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times. Only few buildings from the 19th century survived. The system of streets and squares in the old part of the city is one of the few monuments to the city-building art of 19th century Ukraine.

• Scherbina House (Wedding Palace). It was the most luxurious mansion of prerevolutionary Cherkasy. In Soviet times it was known as the "Palace of Happiness" because it was city's registry office. The house was built by entrepreneur A. Scherbina in 1892. From 1970 to the present day the building is used as the Wedding Palace (civil registry agency).
• The building of former hotel "Slavyanskiy". It was constructed in the late 19th century by means of an entrepreneur Skoryna in a modernist style with elements of pseudo. In Soviet times it was a hotel "Dnepr". Today the building belongs to "Ukrsotsbank".
• Tsybulsky House (Museum of Kobzar). This historic building locate in the center of the city was built in the middle of the 19th century. In Soviet times museum of one book - "Kobzar" by Shevchenko - was opened there.
• Castle Hill (Hill of Glory). The memorial complex with a monument "Motherland" is located at the top of the former Castle Hill. At this point, ancient Russian fort, remains of Cherkasy fortress and Holy Trinity Church were situated. In 1977 all architectural and archaeological sites were completely destroyed during construction of the monument. From the top of the hill you can see beautiful panorama of the Kremenchuk Reservoir.
• Local History Museum. Cherkasy Oblast museum is housed in a modern building, built in 1985 in the historic center of the city near the Hill of Glory (Castle Hill). Thirty halls of the museum offer sections about nature of the region, archeology, ethnography, history of the region in the 14th - early 20th century, modern history from 1917 to the present. In total there are about 12 thousand exhibits.
• Puppet Theatre. Cherkasy Regional Academic Puppet Theater is located in the central part of the city, in a building that is an architectural monument of the 19th century. The building is decorated with mosaics with the heroes of fairy tales.
• School of Music. The building of Cherkasy Music School of S. Gulak-Artemovsky was built in 1903 as a men's gymnasium. The author of the project was great Kyiv architect of Polish origin V. Gorodetsky. In the second half of the 20th century, after the construction of a modern extension, the building became the home of a music school.