The lakes, mountain lakes and reservoirs of Switzerland

7 July 2022

Switzerland has hundreds of larger and smaller lakes, mountain lakes and reservoirs. The mountain lakes are often of breathtaking beauty, embedded in alpine meadows or steep mountain landscapes, with a shimmering green, blue or black colour of the water, hidden amidst spruce forests or situated on mountain slopes.

Lac Morat/Murtensee

The Lungerersee

It is not possible to judge Swiss mountain lakes on their beauty. However, the website provides a subjective list of the 50 most beautiful mountain lakes, indicating their location, canton and altitude. Hundreds of other mountain lakes are not included in this list.

The site also lists the fifty largest lakes. There are also surprises among the largest lakes in terms of surface area. For the ranking, only the surfaces of lakes in Switzerland are taken into account.

Lake Neuchâtel

Lake Lucerne

Lake Geneva

The site also contains a list of the largest dams and reservoirs, including their surface area, height above sea level, maximum depths, type of lake, shore areas, and countries.

Lake Hallwil is located in the cantons of Aargau and Lucerne. The municipalities of Beinwil am See, Birrwil, Boniswil, Fahrwangen, Meisterschwanden, and Seengen, with Hallwyl Castle surrounding the lake on the Aargau side and Schwarzenbach, Mosen and Aesch on the side of Lucerne. The lake lies at an altitude of 449 metres above sea level in the so-called Seetal.

Lake Hallwilermeer is slightly less than 8.5 kilometres long and has a maximum width of one and a half kilometres. The main inflow into the lake is the Aabach stream from Lake Baldegger, which also leaves the lake in the north near Seengen.

(Source and further information: Alle Seen der Schweiz: schweizersee.ch).