Jinan is a sub-provincial city  and the capital of Shandong province, it is also called "The Spring City". Located in western Shandong, it borders Liaocheng to the southwest, Dezhouto the northwest, Binzhou to the northeast, Zibo to the east, Laiwu  to the southeast and Taian to the south.

Jinan is located in the north-western part of Shandong province at 36¡ã 40 northern latitude and 116.57 east of Greenwich. Because its location falls within the warm temperate continental moonsoon climate zone, Jinan has four distinct seasons. The city is dry and rainless in spring, hot and rainy in summer, crisp in autumn and dry and cold in winter. The average annual temperature is 14.2, and the annual rainfall is around 675 mm. January is the coldest and driest month, the monthly averages are -5.4 for the daily minimum temperature, 3.6 for the daily maximum temperature, and 6.6 mm for the rainfall. July is the warmest and wettest month, the corresponding numbers are 23.5, 32.6, and 190.9 mm

Jinan is famous across China for its springs and lakes. Jinan was also the historical center of Buddhist culture for the whole province and invaluable historic sites are left behind in its southern counties.

Spring and Lake Parks
Jinan is known as the "Spring City" because of the large number of springs in the city. The majority of springs, known historically as the "72 Famous¡¡Springs" are concentrated in the downtown district and flow north to converge in Daming Lake. High on the must-see list is the Baotu Spring Park, where the Baotu Spring and many other smaller springs nearby have been a major attraction for tourists for many years. "Baotu" means "jumping and leaping" in Chinese. The water in the spring pool can be seen foaming and gushing, looking like a pot of boiling water. The spring was visited by the famous Chinese Emperor Qian Long (1711 A.D - 1799 A.D) of the Qing Dynasty and the Emperor complimented the spring as "No.1 under the Heaven". A tablet with the Emperors handwriting "Baotu Spring" has since been erected beside the spring pool and the fame of Baotu Spring has spread across the country.

Not far away to the northeast of Baotu Spring Park is the Daming Lake, which, together with Baotu Spring and Thousand-Buddha Mountain have been considered the "Three Greatest Attractions in Jinan" before other historic sites outside of the city started to be developed for tourism. However, since new historic sites and parks started to be developed in counties outside of the city, the old attractions within the city have been losing lure for tourists.

Other notable parks include the Lake of Five Dragons  near the Baotu Spring Park, the Black Tiger Springs  beside the city moat, and  the Baimai Spring of eastern Zhangqiu City.