The city of Nis is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans. Nis is located in the Nis valley along the confluence of the Nisava and South Morava at 43 ° 19 ′ north latitude and 21 ° 54 ′ east longitude.

The city center is at 194m above sea level (near the monument in the center). The highest point on the territory of the city is Sokolov kamen, the peak on Suva planina (1,523 m above sea level), and the lowest downstream from the mouth of the Nisava in Morava near the town of Trupale (173 m above sea level). The area of ​​the city covers an area of ​​596.71 km, on which there are five municipalities - Palilula, Pantelej, Mediana, Crveni Krst and Niška Banja with its 68 suburban and rural settlements.

Nis has 255,518 inhabitants and is the third largest in the country, the largest city in central Serbia and the seat of the Nisava district. Nis is located at the crossroads of Balkan and European roads that connect Europe with the Middle East and has long been considered the gateway to East and West.

Nis is the administrative center of the Nisava district and the regional center of southeastern Serbia.

Geographically, Nis is located at the crossroads of the most important Balkan and European traffic routes. In Nis, the main route, which leads from the north, along the Morava valley from the direction of Belgrade, forks to the south, the Vardar valley towards Thessaloniki and Athens, and the east direction, the Nisava and Marica valley towards Sofia, Istanbul and further to the Middle East.

In Nis, the roads to the northwest (towards Zajecar, Kladovo and Timisoara) and to the southwest (towards the Adriatic Sea) are separated.

All these routes have been known since ancient times as routes of people, goods and armies. "Via Militaris" in the period of Rome and Byzantium, "Constantinople Road" in the medieval period in the time of the Turks. Today, these are the main European highways in the Balkans, which make Nis the crossroads of Europe with Asia Minor and the Black Sea area with the Mediterranean. All these routes have been known since ancient times as routes of people, goods and armies.

Nis is one of the developed cities in Serbia and is an industrial and tourist center of national importance. As a traffic hub of European road and rail routes, with the airport, it is easily accessible from all directions. As a modern university city, it is at the same time a natural, social, economic, educational, health, cultural and sports center of southeastern Serbia.

Nis is one of the six functional macro-regional centers of Serbia. Apart from the municipalities that belong to the Nisava district (Aleksinac, Gadzin Han, Doljevac, Merošina, Ražanj and Svrljig), Niš is also gravitated by the whole of southern (Toplica, Jablanica and Pčinja districts) and eastern Serbia (Zaječar, Bor, Pirot district), ie the region. in which about a million inhabitants live.