Dumaguete is located in Negros Oriental province and is its principal seaport. The city is referred to as The City of Gentle People, and attracts considerable foreign tourists attracted here to its beach resorts and dive sites and the added attraction of dolphin and whale watching in nearby Bais City.

Dumaguete gets two seasons - the dry and the wet. The wet season covers the period from June to November and the dry season starts from December to May. Dumaguete is politically subdivided into 30 barangays all classified as urban. The eight barangays in the city's downtown area are numerically ascribed.

Dumaguete is referred to as a university town because of the presence of four universities and a number of other colleges where students of the province converge to enroll for tertiary education. Silliman University is the dominant institution of higher learning providing the city with a distinct university town atmosphere.

The city is also a popular educational destination for students of surrounding provinces and cities in Visayas and Mindanao. It is best known for Silliman University, the country's first Protestant university and the first American-established University in Asia.