Severobaikalsk is located on a plateau at the northern end of Lake Baikal at the mouth of the Tyya River. To the west the town is surrounded by the Baikal Mountains, to the northeast by the Stanovoy Range.
Severobaikalsk is geographically isolated, the closest town is Ust-Kut, more than  away. The closest large cities are Ulan-Ude,  to the southeast and Irkutsk, more than  to the southwest.