The district is on the left side of the Elbe and stretches from the Elbe on the Terrassenufer in the north to the town hall in the south. The district is delimited by the location of the old Dresden fortifications, which were removed at the beginning of the 19th century. This location can still be seen in many places today on the basis of the ring road, which was provided with green areas after 1945 (a road system consisting of Wallstrasse/Marienstrasse, Dr.-Külz-Ring/Waisenhausstrasse and Ringstrasse/St. Petersburger Strasse). After the demolition of the city fortress, Postplatz was created on the site of the former Wilsche Tor on the western edge of the inner city, and Pirnaische Platz on the eastern edge of the Pirnaisches Tor. The Augustus Bridge and the Carola Bridge provide the connection to the Inner Neustadt on the other side of the Elbe.
The inner old town is the district of Dresden with the highest hotel density. Hotels of the Hilton, Kempinski, Seaside Hotels and Steigenberger Hotel chains are located in the inner old town. Since the almost complete destruction by the air raids on Dresden in February 1945, the inner old town has no longer been of great importance as an inner city. On the one hand, the district has been gutted, on the other hand, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Seevorstadt and Prager Strasse developed into a competing shopping area for the city.
In the course of the development on the Neumarkt, further retail space is being created there, but also new living space. Retail facilities have also been set up on the Altmarkt, so that the inner old town will increasingly take on other functions in addition to being a center for tourism in a city centre. Due to the almost complete destruction of living space in this district, the new development almost exclusively with commercial space and the high rents, the number and density of the population is still low.
