Lying on the North China Plain, Hebei Province has an area of 187,700 sq km and a population of a little over 63 million. The provincial capital is Shijiazhuang, a railway hub and rising center located about 270 km south of Beijing. It borders Liaoning to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the north, Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, and Shandong to the southeast. Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea is to the east. A small part of Hebei, an exclave disjointed from the rest of the province, is wedged between the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.On the province's long coastline are many ports, the most important one being Qinhuangdao, the world's largest coal terminal, from which 61 million tons of the fossil fuel were shipped to the southern part of China and to many other countries. The bulk of the coal was carried? directly to Qinhuangdao Harbor by a double-track, electrified railroad from Shanxi Province.

Traditional forms of Chinese opera in Hebei include Pingju, Hebei Bangzi, and Cangzhou Kuaiban Dagu. Pingju is especially popular: it tends to be colloquial in language and hence easy to understand for audiences. Originating from northeastern Hebei, Pingju has been influenced by other forms of Chinese opera like Beijing opera. Traditionally Pingju makes use of just a xiaosheng (young male lead), a xiaodan (young female lead), and a xiaohualian (young comic character), though it has since diversified with the use of other roles as well.

Quyang County, in central Hebei, is famous for its Dingzhou porcelain, which includes various vessels such as bowls, plates, vases, and cups, as well as figurines. Dingzhou porcelain is usually creamy white, though it is also made in other colours.

Hebei cuisine is typically based on wheat, mutton and beans.

Hebei surrounds Beijing, so many important railway lines radiating out of Beijing pass through Hebei. The Jingguang Railway (Beijing-Guangzhou) is one of the most important: it passes through many major cities like Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Handan on its way through Hebei from north to south. Other important railways include the Jingjiu Railway (Beijing-Kowloon), the Jinghu Railway (Beijing-Shanghai), the Jingha Railway (Beijing-Harbin), and the Jingbao Railway (Beijing-Baotou).

The recent expressway boom in China has not left Hebei behind. There are expressways to every prefecture-level city of Hebei except Chengde, totalling to approximately 2000 kilometers. The total length of highways within Hebei is around 40,000 kilometers.

There are a number of ports along the Bohai Sea, including Qinhuangdao (the second busiest in China with a capacity of over 100 million tons), Huanghua, and Jingtang. Shijiazhuang's Zhengding Airport is the province's center of air transportation, with domestic and international flights.

The east end of the Ming Great Wall is located on the coast at Shanhaiguan (Shanhai Pass), near Qinhuangdao. Informally known as the "First Pass of The World", Shanhaiguan was the place where Ming general Wu Sangui opened the gates to Manchu forces in 1644, beginning nearly 300 years of Manchu rule;The Chengde Mountain Resort and its outlying temples are a World Heritage Site. Also known as the Rehe Palace, this was the summer resort of the Manchu Qing Dynasty emperors.

The Zhaozhou Anji Bridge, built by Li Chun during the Sui Dynasty, is the oldest stone arch bridge in China, and one of the most significant examples of pre-modern Chinese civil engineering.