The castle ruins are freely accessible and are a popular hiking destination with a good view of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Wetterstein Mountains.

The castle is located at an elevation of 795 m above sea level (NN) northwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen on an eastern spur of the Kramerspitz in the Ammergau Alps.

The rocky terrain falls steeply from northwest to southeast into the valley, whilst southwest of the castle the land climbs rapidly.

It supplied "chamois and red deer venison and game... wood, marble" that could be transported on the rivers Isar and Loisach directly to the cathedral town.

The structural condition of the castle seems to have deteriorated to the beginning of the 17th century such that the governor's seat was moved in 1632 into a new administrative building on the Wang.

Better preserved are the north side and an internal wall of the palas (24.8 × 11.4 metres)[3] and the stonework of the two outer wards with its – largely renovated – 'Mittertor ("Central Gate").

The partially preserved north wall of the palas is pierced on the ground floor by three large pointed arches whose actual function remains a puzzle.

The associated domestic yard lay to the south, below the castle in the valley roughly where the old district office (Amtshaus) is today (Schwaige Wang).