Santa Maria lies in the central-northern side of Cilento, alongside the Tyrrhenian Sea, and is extended from the zone of Lago, to the beach of Pozzillo.

The town has a little harbour, the greatest port in the comune is at the nearer hamlet of San Marco.

The town is a part of "Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park", its natural environment is composed of "Maquis", which is typical of mediterranean countries.

It attracts a lot of tourism, especially in summer, because of good road links to Agropoli, Salerno and Naples and because of the quality of its water; which give it the Blue Flag beach[1] award every year from 2003.

Benvenuti al Sud,[2] an Italian adaptation of the 2008 French film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, has been set in Castellabate and partly in Santa Maria and San Marco.