The city is located at the foot of the Ivanovsky Ridge in the Rudny Altai, 130 km from the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. The history of the city dates back to 1786, when Catherine II signed an imperial decree on sending search expeditions to the Ulba River.
The city is the terminus of the European route E40 and the last point of the eastern branch of the Kazakhstan Railways (Ridder station).
Ridder is famous for its generous forest gifts (mushrooms, nuts, berries) and good beekeeping traditions.
Not far from the city, in the village of Lesnoye at the foot of the Serzhinsky Ridge, there is a unique boarding school of the Olympic reserve, the only one in Kazakhstan that is engaged in the development of Olympic winter sports - ski racing, biathlon, freestyle skiing, alpine skiing, ski jumping.
Nowadays, Ridder and its surroundings make it a place of attraction for skiers and snowboarders, mountain climbers and ecotourists.
