Manado is the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi. It is the second largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar, with the 2020 census giving a population of 451,916, and the official estimates for mid 2023 showing 458,582 inhabitants, distributed over a land area of 157.26 km2. The Manado metropolitan area had a population of 1,377,815 as of mid 2023. The city is situated on the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area.

In Indonesian law, the term "city" is generally defined as the second-level administrative subdivision of the Republic of Indonesia, an equivalent to regency. The difference between a city and a regency is that a city has non-agricultural economic activities and a dense urban population, while a regency comprises predominantly rural areas and is larger in area than a city. However, Indonesia historically had several classifications of cities.