Aman is a continent far to the west of Middle-earth across the great ocean Belegaer. The island of Tol Eressëa lies just off its eastern shore. At the end of the Second Age, Aman was removed from the surface of the Earth to another realm, and is no longer reachable by ordinary means of travel.

Eldamar is the region east of the Pelóri where the Elves live. It is usually considered a part of Valinor.

The size of Eldamar is unknown, but the area between the Bay of Eldamar and the Pelóri was probably at least a few dozen miles wide; Eldamar also consisted of the shore of Taniquetil and the Calacirya pass where Tirion was built. The shore probably extended hundreds of miles to the north of the Calacirya.

The land is regarded as being well-wooded, or at least containing areas of forest, as Finrod was recounted as "walking with his father under the trees in Eldamar" and the Teleri needed timber to build their ships.

The city of the Teleri, on the north shore of the Bay is Alqualondë, or Haven of the Swans, whose halls and mansions are made of pearl. The harbour is entered through a natural arch of rock, and the beaches are strewn with gems given by the Noldor. It includes the Calacirya and stretches far to the north and around the east-slopes of Taniquetil.

In the bay is Tol Eressëa, which was an island at one time adrift, until Ulmo rooted it in the bay.

South of Eldamar is Avathar; to the north is Araman.

Calacirya (meaning "Light Cleft" in Tolkien's artificial Elvish language Quenya) is the pass in the Pelóri mountains north of Taniquetil where the elven city Tirion was set on Túna hill. After the hiding of Valinor this was the only gap through the mountains of Aman. The Valar would have closed the mountains entirely but, realizing that the Elves, even the Vanyar, needed to be able to breathe the outside air, they kept Calacirya open. They also did not want to wholly separate the Vanyar and Noldor from the Teleri on the coast.

The name refers to the light of the Two Trees that streamed through the pass into the world beyond, the only source of light other than the stars before the coming of the sun and moon.

The city of the Noldor (and for a time the Vanyar also) is Tirion, which was built on the hill of Túna, raised inside the Calacirya mountain pass, just north of Taniquetil, facing both the Two Trees and the starlit seas.