Neuquén is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department within that province, located in the extreme east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form the Río Negro, making it part of the ecoregion of Alto Valle del Río Negro. The city had 287,787 inhabitants, and the surrounding Neuquén – Plottier – Cipolletti conurbation had a population of more than 500,000 at the 2022 Census, making it the largest urban agglomeration in Patagonia.