Lienz, the regional capital of East Tyrol, is on the eastern side of the mountain range.

The range is well known for a host of picturesquely situated mountain lakes, its rich plant life and the still relatively intact alpine pastures (Almmähder).

In older classification systems of the Eastern Alps the Lasörling Group, north of the Defereggental, was counted as part of the Defereggen range.

German-speaking South Tyrolese frequently call them the Gsies Mountains (Gsieser Berge).

Because the sources do not agree on the naming of these peaks, the designation used by the Austrian Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying[2] is generally preferred.

They confirm that the eastern summit is called the Weiße Spitze with a height of 2,962 m above sea level (AA) as the highest peak in the group.

No peak in the Villgraten Mountains reaches the 3000 metre mark, but there are 20 summits higher than 2,800 m above sea level (AA) They are (sorted by height): Four larger valleys runs from the south into Villgraten Mountains: the uninhabited Wilfernertal, that descends to the village of Thal in the municipality of Assling, the likewise unpopulated Kristein, the Villgraten valley with its municipalities of Außervillgraten and Innervillgraten and the Gsieser valley in South Tyrol with its villages of Pichl, St. Magdalena and St. Martin.

Of note is the Gsieser Törl within the Villgraten Mountains which acts as the transition from the South Tyrolean Gsies valley (Gsieser Tal) to the East Tyrolean Defereggen valley (Defereggental), which after the First World War until the 1970s was used as a smuggler's route between Austria and Italy.