The Island of Vir is one of the 300 islands and small isles of the Zadar Archipelagos, that is, one of 1186 islands and cliffs in the Croatian Adriatic. It is situated in Virsko More in the north-west part of Dalmatia.

Vir is twentieth in size amongst Croatian islands and eighth within the Zadar Archipelagos. It is attached to Privlački Poluotok (Peninsula) from which it is separated by a 3 m deep and 300 m wide Privlački Gaz. The Canal of Nove Povljane, 0,7 nautical miles long, separates it from the island of Pag in the north-east.

From the north to the west and south it is surrounded by the islands of Pag, Maun, Planik, Olib, Ist, Molat, Sestrunja, Rivanj and Ugljan. It has a surface of 22,38 km, length of 10,12 km and its widest part is 4,25 km.

Its coast-line is 31,43 km long. Due to the favourable depths of Virsko More, there are significant sea routes passing alongside Vir towards Rijeka, Italy, Zadar and South of Croatia. Because of these sea routes, a lighthouse was built in the western part of the island. The sea-route leads through Ninski and Ljubački Bay and Ljubačka Vrata (Fortica) into the Velebit Channel, through the Canal of Nove Povljane for larger ships and through Gaz for the smaller ones.