Eritrea is located in north eastern Africa bordering with Ethiopia in the south, Sudan in north, Djibouti in the southeast and the Red Sea to the east.

Eritrea is dominated by the extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain. To the northwest lies hilly terrain and on the southwest flat to rolling plains. Several mountains exceed 2,000 metres. The country has no permanent rivers and no sizeable lakes. The largest archipelago of the Red Sea, the Dahlak Archipelago, has been designated as a National Park.