In the last two decades, there has been substantial development in the diagnostic possibilities for examining the bowel. Compared with computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and endoscopy, ultrasonography has the advantage of being cheap, portable, flexible and user- and patient-friendly, while at the same time providing the clinician with image data of high temporal and spatial resolution. The bowel is affected by a number of diseases, mainly inflammatory, ischemic, and neoplastic conditions. The fact that US is frequently used as the initial imaging method in patients with non-specific clinical symptoms allows for greater influence in further diagnostic evaluation and with treatment, provided the investigator is familiar with the features of different bowel diseases. This essay is intended to describe the anatomical characteristics of the bowel demonstrated by US, the US technique for examination of the bowel, and the typical US features of the common diseases of the bowel. It aims at increasing the sonographer’s awareness of the contribution of ultrasound within the general clinical picture, and introducing the sonographer to its enormous potential in bowel diseases.