Mountain ranges within the Dauphiné Alps include the Massif des Écrins in Écrins National Park, Belledonne, Le Taillefer range and the mountains of Matheysine.

The Dauphiné (pronounced [dofine]) is a former French province whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme, and Hautes-Alpes.

They are separated from the Cottian Alps in the east by the Col du Galibier and the upper Durance valley; from the western Graian Alps (Vanoise Massif) in the north-east by the river Arc; from the lower ranges Vercors Plateau and Chartreuse Mountains in the west by the rivers Drac and Isère.

Many peaks rise to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m), with Barre des Écrins (4,102 m) the highest.

It has been proposed that the height of mountains in the Dauphiné Alps is limited by the erosion caused by small glaciers, causing a topographic effect called the glacial buzzsaw.