The lake lends its name to the surrounding area and to the nearby Studentendorf Schlachtensee, a student residence.

Schlachtensee is the most southerly in the Grunewald chain of lakes, which belongs geologically to the Teltow plateau, and was emerged some 15,000 years ago from the ice age as a glacial trough.

With a surface area of around 42.1 hectares (104 acres), a circumference of 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) and a maximum depth of 8.5 metres (28 ft), it is one of the larger lakes in Berlin.

The lake is popularly used for walking and for swimming, due to the good quality of the water.

It is open to the public and runs down the slope to the lake and half a kilometer around the southern shore.