The 60-kilometre (37 mi) long fjord runs through the municipalities of Balsfjord, Målselv, Senja, and Tromsø.

The fjord stretches from Hekkingen Lighthouse off the coast of the island of Senja to the village of Nordfjordbotn.

There are several larger villages along the coast of the fjord, including Mortenhals, Mestervik, and Rossfjordstraumen.

The same word mál is probably also the origin of the name of the Målselva, the big river that enters the fjord from the Målselvdalen and Bardudalen valleys (the neighboring Målselv Municipality has a similar etymology).

In the 13th century, King Haakon IV of Norway gave some people from Bjarmaland some land around the Malangen fjord on which to live.