Ninghai County, under the jurisdiction of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, is located in the middle part of the coastline of mainland China, in the eastern part of Zhejiang Province, along the southern coast of Ningbo City, between Xiangshan Port and Sanmen Bay, at the intersection of Tiantai Mountain and Siming Mountain Mountains. It is adjacent to Xiangshan County in the east, Sanmen County in Taizhou City in the south, Tiantai County in Taizhou City and Xinchang County in Shaoxing City in the west, and Fenghua District in the north. It is a planned county under Ningbo City. One of the first coastal areas to be opened to the outside world approved by The State Council. The total land area of the county is 1861.20 square kilometers, and the landform shows the pattern of "seven mountains, one water and two fields". By the end of 2021, Ninghai County has 708,000 permanent residents and 631,000 registered residents. By the end of 2019, the county had jurisdiction over 30 communities and 363 administrative villages, including 4 subdistricts, 11 towns and 3 townships.

Ninghai County is the opening place of Xu Xiake's Travel Notes and the birthplace of Chinese tourism. There are 4A-level tourist attractions such as Qiantong Ancient Town, Wushan Grottoes and Ninghai Forest Hot Spring. In September 2019, it was selected as one of the first national tourism demonstration zones.
In 2021, the GDP of Ninghai County reached 84.01 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 8.8% based on comparable prices.