The municipal area stretches along the valley of the Sirnitzbach creek, a tributary of the Gurk river, within the Gurktal Alps.

In the northwest, Albeck borders on the state of Styria near Mt Eisenhut and Turracher Höhe Pass.

The upper Gurk valley and its sources, two small cirque lakes (Gurksee and Torersee), are a protected area since 1981.

Albeck is a settlement area since the 10th century, when the surrounding estates were held by the Counts of Friesach, ancestors of Saint Hemma of Gurk.

When Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg had the abbey dissolved in 1072, he ceded the estates to the newly established Diocese of Gurk.