The village of Dolná Poruba is located in the Poruba Valley in the southwest of the Strážov Mountains, in the basin surrounded by the Teplice Highlands, Zliechov Highlands and Omšenie Basin.

The neighbouring municipalities include Omšenie, Slatinka nad Bebravou, Šípkov, Čierna Lehota, Krásna Ves, Valaská Belá, Horná Poruba and Dubnica nad Váhom. The village has been part of the Trenčín Region since 1957.

Varied plant communities have evolved in the vicinity of Dolná Poruba due to favourable natural conditions. In 1988, the nature reserve Below Homôlka (Pod Homôlkou) was proclaimed. If a single flower should symbolize the village of Dolná Poruba, it would certainly be the globeflower.

The area of Dolná Poruba had been relatively densely populated during the Young and Late Bronze Ages (1300 – 800 B.C.). The first written record of Dolná Poruba dates back to 1355.

The tradition says that the settlers founded a new village cutting down the forest, in order to settle down in the hostile mountain country. The name of the village Poruba is derived from the verb ‚rúbať' (to cut, to hew).

The oldest official seal of the village bearing the image of St. Martin dates back to 1715. The first evidence of the existence of a school can be found in the book From the Journey around Slovak Lands, published in 1876 by the Polish writer Agaton Giller.
The name of Drahomíra Stránská, a student from Prague, is strongly related to the village Dolná Poruba because of the ethnographic work about the village she wrote.

As a mountain village, Dolná Poruba participated in the Resistance by storing auxiliary material for the guerrilla groups.
The culture awereness and identity of the citizens have been reinforced through many cultural events, as Carnival (Fašiangy) or Goulash cooking contests, and by the activities organized by TJ Slovan, Volounteer firemen´s corp and Folklore group Porubanček.

A number of famous artists, among them the academic painter Jaroslav Vodrážka or Easter egg painter Anna Országová, have earned a reputation for Dolná Poruba.