The city is expanding at the northern and southern banks of the Danube in a wide flat bowl. The Ingolstadt basin borders the Jura foothills, located south and is to the north of the Donau-Isar-Hügelland. In the southwest is the Donaumoos while in the east the lowland forests of the Danube reach into the urban area. It is the second largest hardwood floodplain on the Danube. The Sandrach, the former Southern main branch of the Danube, partly forms the Southern city border. In the north, the Schutter flows through from the west reaching the Danube near to the Altstadt.