The urban area is located directly south of Utrecht. Nieuwegein was formed in the 1970s from the former municipalities of Vreeswijk and Jutphaas. The center of Vreeswijk is located directly on the Lek, one of the Dutch arms of the Rhine.

In the 13th century, there was a town here called Het Gein. It was granted a river customs right by the German Emperor around 1295. In 1333, it fell victim to a civil war and was destroyed. The town of Vreeswijk is said to have been a Frisian settlement. It had important locks, which were destroyed in another civil war in 1481 and subsequently rebuilt. The village of Jutphaas grew up in the Middle Ages along the river Kromme Rijn. It was a not insignificant shipping settlement in the 17th century. In May 1940, the town was occupied by the German Wehrmacht (Western Campaign against France); it was liberated at the end of 1944.

As already mentioned, these villages were merged in 1971 to form the new municipality of Nieuwegein; a modern town center was built between the old nuclei.

• The Vreeswijk museum shipyard, a museum of inland shipping, opened in 2006
• The Roman Catholic church of St. Nicholas contains a remarkable reredos created around 1500 by an unknown South German master and a medieval organ prospectus.
• The two small castles of Rijnhuizen and Oudegein (not open to the public) date from the 17th century.