Ulm lies at the point where the rivers Blau and Iller join the Danube, at an altitude of 479 m (1,571.52 ft) above sea level. Most parts of the city, including the old town, are situated on the left bank of the Danube; only the districts of Wiblingen, G�gglingen, Donaustetten and Unterweiler lie on the right bank. Across from the old town, on the other side of the river, lies the twin city of Neu-Ulm in the state of Bavaria, smaller than Ulm and until 1810 a part of it (population ~50,000). Except for the Danube in the south, the city is surrounded by forests and hills which rise to altitudes of over 620 m (2,034.12 ft), some of them part of the Swabian Alb. South of the Danube, plains and hills finally end in the northern edge of the Alps, which is approximately 100 km from Ulm and is visible from the city on clear days.
The city is divided into eighteen districts (German: Stadtteile): Ulm-Mitte, B�fingen, Donaustetten, Donautal, Eggingen, Einsingen, Ermingen, Eselsberg, G�gglingen, Grimmelfingen, Jungingen, Lehr, M�hringen, Oststadt, S�flingen (with Harthausen), Unterweiler, Weststadt, and Wiblingen.
The city of Ulm is situated in the northern part of the North Alpine Foreland basin, where the basin reaches the Swabian Alb. The Turritellenplatte of Ermingen ("Erminger Turritellenplatte") is a famous palaeontological site of Burdigalian age
