It is situated in the northeastern foothills of the Ore Mountains, between Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel and Dohna.

Its source is located 1.5 km north of Breitenau in Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel at 505 m. It flows into the Seidewitz near Zuschendorf.

In order to prevent flooding, a retention basin was built between Borna-Gersdorf and Friedrichswalde-Ottendorf in 1970.

Bahretal consists of the following villages: Borna (German pronunciation: [ˈbɔʁna] ⓘ) probably belonged to the castle of Dohna at first.

It changed hands quite often, between the owners of Liebstadt, Weesenstein, Gersdorf, Ottendorf, Krebs and Giesenstein in the subsequent years.