Lake · Switzerland
Lake Biel
Lake at Biel/Bienne, Canton of Bern, Switzerland
- Area
- 37.6km²
- Max depth
- 74m
- Average depth
- 16m
- Elevation
- 425m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 47km
- Volume
- 0.618km³
Lake Biel is a lake in Switzerland. It covers 37.6 km². On average it is 16 m deep, and 74 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 425 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Biel?
The water is warmest in August, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 4 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 22 °C on average in July and 2 °C in January. The driest month is February (66 mm of rain), the wettest May (124 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (120 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4 | 4 | 2 | -4 | 85 | 12 | 2.2 | 14 |
| February | 4 | 5 | 3 | -4 | 66 | 12 | 3.5 | 14 |
| March | 7 | 9 | 7 | -1 | 86 | 13 | 5.1 | 14 |
| April | 11 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 83 | 13 | 6.5 | 12 |
| May | 15 | 17 | 16 | 7 | 124 | 17 | 6.8 | 12 |
| June | 19 | 21 | 20 | 12 | 112 | 16 | 8.4 | 12 |
| July | 22 | 22 | 22 | 13 | 113 | 16 | 8.5 | 11 |
| August | 22 | 22 | 22 | 13 | 118 | 14 | 7.6 | 11 |
| September | 19 | 21 | 18 | 9 | 83 | 13 | 6.4 | 11 |
| October | 15 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 100 | 13 | 4.3 | 12 |
| November | 10 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 85 | 13 | 2.4 | 12 |
| December | 6 | 7 | 2 | -3 | 96 | 14 | 1.7 | 14 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 34 days before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 7,858 km² of land.
- About 210 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Biel
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 24beaches and swimming spots
Badewiese Funtelen, Hundemätteli / Plage des pauvres, Hundemätteli, Nase, Badeplatz Tüscherz and 19 more
- 24campsites
Stellplatz Ancien Débarcadère, Le Landeron, Stellplatz Marais, Le Landeron, Camping Sutz, Camping des pêches, Résidence les Pêches and 19 more
- 13boat hire and water-sport clubs
Hagneckkanal, St. Joux, Strandbad, Nidaukanal Rest. Blue Marlin, Nidaukanal and 8 more
- 49marinas and slipways
St. Petersinsel, Alfermée, Tüscherz, Twann - Polizeihafen, Twann and 44 more
- 12ferry piers
La Neuveville, St. Petersinsel Nord, Ligerz, Biel/Bienne, Erlach and 7 more
- 30viewpoints
Birlig, Baie des Brochets, Riedmatt, Pavillon, Känzeli and 25 more
- 26hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Seeblick, Surf, Hotel - Restaurant St. Petersinsel, City Hotel Biel/Bienne, Kreuz and 21 more
- —fishing spots
- 199restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Biel/Bienne55,120 people
- Nidau6,696 people
- Le Landeron4,278 people
- La Neuveville3,495 people
- Täuffelen2,492 people
- Evilard2,328 people
- Cressier1,912 people
- Bellmund1,311 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Bern Airport (BRN), 31 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BRN airport (Bern)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 1.6 | 2.7 | 7.4 | 12.3 | 16.0 | 20.2 | 22.1 | 21.8 | 17.8 | 13.2 | 6.8 | 2.5 |
| 2020 | +2.1 | +3.8 | +0.4 | +3.4 | +0.9 | −1.5 | +0.8 | +1.6 | +2.1 | −2.0 | +2.0 | +0.4 |
| 2021 | −1.0 | +3.7 | +0.2 | −2.1 | −2.9 | +1.5 | −1.4 | −2.0 | +1.6 | −0.3 | −1.4 | +0.1 |
| 2022 | +0.7 | +2.3 | +2.9 | −0.4 | +2.8 | +3.2 | +4.0 | +3.9 | ±0.0 | +4.2 | +2.0 | +1.2 |
| 2023 | +1.2 | +2.4 | +1.3 | −1.9 | +0.4 | +2.8 | +2.3 | +2.6 | +5.9 | +4.2 | ±0.0 | +2.0 |
| 2024 | +1.6 | +4.8 | +2.7 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.1 | +1.3 | +2.3 | −1.1 | +1.6 | +1.3 | ±0.0 |
| 2025 | +1.9 | +2.0 | +2.1 | +1.8 | +0.6 | +3.4 | −0.2 | +2.3 | −0.6 | −1.2 | +0.2 | +2.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
About these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q14429) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
