The Upper Styrian municipality is located in the Thaja valley (Thajagraben) within the northern Gurktal Alps, east of the district capital Murau and near the Styrian-Carinthian border.

At a height of 1,028 m (3,373 ft) above sea level, Sankt Lambrecht is the highest situated market town in Styria.

Trades practiced here are woodworking (windows, furniture, chairs), a dynamite factory (explosives, military products), and tourism.

A first Romanesque basilica was consecrated in 1160, after a blaze it was rebuilt in the preserved Gothic hall church style until 1421.

During World War II the premises housed two sub-camps of the infamous Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, one for male inmates and one for females.