The city of Hazar, former Cheleken, is located in the peninsula, which administratively belongs to Turkmenistan's Balkan Province.

It borders on the Caspian Sea in the west and with the Türkmenbaşy Gulf (former Krasnovodsk Bay) in the north.

The area is desert and the central part is elevated terrain averaging 100 m elevation, with 25 m high cliffs in the central part of the western shore, while the eastern shore is low and sandy.

It was plotted on a rough map for the first time in 1715 by Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky as 'Chereken Island'.

Karelin commented that there were four types of crude oil in the Cheleken Peninsula.