A liquid immersion exposure apparatus for locally forming a liquid immersion area of an immersion liquid on at least a portion of a surface of a substrate at least during a liquid immersion exposure operation and for exposing the substrate by projecting a pattern image onto a projection area on the surface of the substrate during the liquid immersion exposure operation, the apparatus comprising: a control unit (CONT); a substrate stage including a holder for holding the substrate; a projection optical system for projecting the pattern image on the projection area to expose the substrate; a liquid supply mechanism for supplying the immersion liquid to the projection area; a liquid recovery mechanism for recovering the immersion liquid supplied; a substrate alignment system for determining position information of an alignment mark provided on the substrate and position information of a reference mark provided on the stage; a mask alignment system for determining projection position information of the pattern image via the projection optical system, wherein the control unit is configured to control operation of the apparatus to sequentially: determine position information of the alignment mark not via the immersion liquid using the substrate alignment system; determine position information of the reference mark not via the immersion liquid using the substrate alignment system, determine projection position information of the pattern image via the projection optical system and the immersion liquid using the mask alignment system; and perform liquid immersion exposure for the substrate by supplying the immersion liquid to the projection area and recovering the immersion liquid while the substrate and the pattern image are aligned with each other based on the position information of the alignment mark, the position information of the reference mark and the projection position information of the pattern image. a control unit (CONT); a substrate stage including a holder for holding the substrate; a projection optical system for projecting the pattern image on the projection area to expose the substrate; a liquid supply mechanism for supplying the immersion liquid to the projection area; a liquid recovery mechanism for recovering the immersion liquid supplied; a substrate alignment system for determining position information of an alignment mark provided on the substrate and position information of a reference mark provided on the stage; a mask alignment system for determining projection position information of the pattern image via the projection optical system, wherein the control unit is configured to control operation of the apparatus to sequentially: determine position information of the alignment mark not via the immersion liquid using the substrate alignment system; determine position information of the reference mark not via the immersion liquid using the substrate alignment system, determine projection position information of the pattern image via the projection optical system and the immersion liquid using the mask alignment system; and perform liquid immersion exposure for the substrate by supplying the immersion liquid to the projection area and recovering the immersion liquid while the substrate and the pattern image are aligned with each other based on the position information of the alignment mark, the position information of the reference mark and the projection position information of the pattern image. determine position information of the alignment mark not via the immersion liquid using the substrate alignment system; determine position information of the reference mark not via the immersion liquid using the substrate alignment system, determine projection position information of the pattern image via the projection optical system and the immersion liquid using the mask alignment system; and perform liquid immersion exposure for the substrate by supplying the immersion liquid to the projection area and recovering the immersion liquid while the substrate and the pattern image are aligned with each other based on the position information of the alignment mark, the position information of the reference mark and the projection position information of the pattern image.