It is geographically close to Rio de Janeiro's airport and a SuperVia train line, but the poor infrastructure dedicated to the cities of Magé, Guapimirim and Itaboraí creates a significant gap between this area and the Baixada Fluminense, so that it is much easier for one use them with the public transit/highway routes from Mangaratiba, many kilometers more away, and most people who want to drive west go for the São Gonçalo-Niterói-Rio de Janeiro route instead.

It borders counter-clockwise São Gonçalo, Maricá, Tanguá, Rio Bonito, Cachoeiras de Macacu and Guapimirim, the last five have tourism as the greatest source of their income.

It has a small coastline, mostly representing mangrove on the shores of polluted rivers' ends, that even though is the most preserved of the Baía de Guanabara.

The municipality contains part of the 19,508 hectares (48,210 acres) Bacia do Rio Macacu Environmental Protection Area, created in 2002.

[3] It contains part of the Central Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Mosaic of conservation units, created later in 2006.