The eponymous valley, the Muotatal, is formed by the Muota, which joins Lake Lucerne at Brunnen.

[3] In 1799, 30 September – 1 October, during Suvorov's Swiss campaign (part of War of the Second Coalition), a numerically inferior Russian rearguard fought the French troops in the Muotatal, covering the march of the main force, and inflicted a heavy defeat, thus saving the Imperial Russian Army's forces from possible destruction.

[3] It consists of the hamlet Ried, village sections of Schachen, Wil, Hinterthal (had its own post office since 1896, though it has now grown together with Schachen), and the hamlet Bisisthal in the Bisistal further upstream of the Muota.

Of the rest of the land, 1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (44.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

[5] The municipality includes the entry site of the Hölloch, which at over 200 km is the longest cave in Switzerland, and currently the second-longest in Europe.

[5] From the 2000 census[update], 3,197 or 91.2% are Roman Catholic, while 47 or 1.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The wettest month is June during which time Muotathal receives an average of 232 mm (9.1 in) of precipitation.

The driest month of the year is October with an average of 126 mm (5.0 in) of precipitation over 15.9 days.