Situated within the Berchtesgaden Alps in the municipality of Schönau am Königsee, just south of Berchtesgaden and the Austrian city of Salzburg, the Königssee is Germany's third deepest lake. Located at a Jurassic rift, it was formed by glaciers during the last ice age. It stretches about in a north-south direction and is about across at its widest point. Except at its outlet, the Königsseer Ache at the village of Königssee, the lake is similar to a fjord, being surrounded by the steeply-rising flanks of mountains up to , including the Watzmann massif in the west.