The loch is hemmed in by the high plateau of the Moine Mhor on the east, the ridge of Sgòr Gaoith to the west, and Coire Odhar at its head.

Adam Watson considers Gleann Einich to be one of the grandest Cairngorm glens with pine trees at lower levels, then open moorland, and lastly with the loch held between crags.

Its surface is occasionally covered with ice and the shore consists of glacial drift, boulders and storm beaches.

[7] From just before the foot of the loch a stalkers' path heads up Coire Dhondail which leads onto the Moine Mhor plateau near the Wells of Dee and the summit of Braeriach.

[10] Dippers flip along rocks in the loch, greenshank often feed along its northern shores and common sandpipers nest on its stony banks.