Werfen is located in the northwest of the historic Pongau region, about south of the city of Salzburg. The settlement is situated in the Salzach valley south of the Lueg Pass, between the Berchtesgaden Alps (Hagen Mountains and the Hochkönig massif) in the west and the Tennen Mountains in the east. The Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line (Giselabahn) and the Tauern Autobahn run parallel to the river. The region is known as the type locality of the geologic Werfen Formation, a Triassic stone layer of the Limestone Alps.