Portugal occupies one-sixth of the Iberian Peninsula at Europe’s southwestern perimeter. To its north and east is Spain, which makes up the rest of the peninsula; to the south and the west is the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and southwest lie the Azores (Açores) and the Madeira Islands, which are part of metropolitan Portugal.

The country is made up of the mainland and the Azores and Madeira Islands. On the north and east, Portugal is bordered by Spain; on the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Tagus River, flowing west into the Atlantic at Lisbon divides mainland Portugal into two distinct topographical and climatic regions.