The border is located in the northwestern part of Germany and the east of the Netherlands. The border runs as a fairly irregular line from the shore of the Dollart bay which is part of the Ems river estuary in the north to the Belgium-Germany-Netherlands tripoint at Vaalserberg. The length of the border is around 570 km (350 mi) in length, although the straight distance between the two border end points is 288 km (179 mi).