The Scharfenstein lies southwest of Ilsenburg, southeast of the Lower Saxony town of Bad Harzburg, north of the Kleiner Brocken mountain and east of the Ecker Reservoir, which lies on the Ecker River, straddling the border between the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony. The mountain is topped by a tor, the Scharfensteinklippe; which has particularly good views of the Brocken, and in the direction of Torfhaus and the Ecker Reservoir. Below the summit is the Scharfenstein ranger station of the national park with a self-service cafe.