Lake · Switzerland · Italy
Lake Lugano
Lake in Switzerland and Italy
- Area
- 26.6km²
- Max depth
- 288m
- Average depth
- 88m
- Elevation
- 272m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 41km
- Volume
- 2.3km³
Lake Lugano is a lake in Switzerland. It covers 26.6 km². On average it is 88 m deep, and 288 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 272 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Lugano?
The water is warmest in July, around 25 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 5 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to September: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 24 °C on average in July and 3 °C in January. The driest month is January (50 mm of rain), the wettest November (147 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (82 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 | 6 | 7 | 3 | -5 | 50 | 9 | 4.2 | 8 |
| February | 5 | 5 | 4 | -3 | 59 | 8 | 5.5 | 8 |
| March | 7 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 70 | 9 | 6.4 | 8 |
| April | 11 | 13 | 14 | 5 | 102 | 13 | 5.9 | 8 |
| May | 16 | 19 | 18 | 9 | 139 | 16 | 5.7 | 8 |
| June | 22 | 24 | 22 | 14 | 120 | 16 | 7.4 | 8 |
| July | 25 | 25 | 24 | 16 | 107 | 15 | 7.9 | 7 |
| August | 24 | 25 | 24 | 16 | 129 | 16 | 7.1 | 7 |
| September | 22 | 23 | 20 | 11 | 99 | 12 | 6.1 | 7 |
| October | 17 | 19 | 14 | 7 | 112 | 12 | 4.7 | 7 |
| November | 12 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 147 | 12 | 3.4 | 7 |
| December | 8 | 10 | 4 | -3 | 73 | 10 | 3.5 | 7 |
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 7.0 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 297 km² of land.
- About 11 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Lugano
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 13beaches and swimming spots
Lido Riva Caccia, Lido di Lugano, Lido San Domenico, Panama Beach, Lido di Campione and 8 more
- 5campsites
Camping San Rocco, Camping La Sbianca, Camping Grotte di Rescia, Area Camper Lugano, Camping Darna
- 7boat hire and water-sport clubs
Lago di Lugano-Lugano-Sub, Foce del Casserate, Lago di Lugano-Acquedetto, Sentiero di Gandria, Ponte del Diavolo and 2 more
- 40marinas and slipways
Porto Lugano, Scuola Nautica Mike, Società Salvataggio Lugano, Lanchetta, Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano and 35 more
- 22ferry piers
Cantine di Gandria, Gandria SNL, Museo doganale, Lugano Centrale, Gandria Confine and 17 more
- 49viewpoints
Panorama sulla Città dal Parco Tassino, sasso della predescia, Puntobelvedere, Materone, Puntoarancio and 44 more
- 75hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hotel Colorado, Hotel International au Lac, Hotel Luganodante, Hotel Federale, Hotel Nassa and 70 more
- —fishing spots
- 261restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Lugano63,185 people
- Pregassona7,548 people
- Viganello6,375 people
- Massagno5,774 people
- Porlezza4,274 people
- Montagnola2,297 people
- Campione2,117 people
- Sorengo1,629 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Lugano Airport (LUG), 5 km in a straight line.
Car hire at MXP airport (Ferno)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 | 2.8 | 4.4 | 9.1 | 13.6 | 17.8 | 22.2 | 24.4 | 23.8 | 19.6 | 14.4 | 8.4 | 3.6 |
| 2020 | +2.8 | +3.4 | −0.1 | +1.5 | +1.0 | −1.3 | ±0.0 | +0.7 | +0.7 | −1.3 | +1.5 | −1.2 |
| 2021 | −1.2 | +0.1 | +0.2 | −2.3 | −2.0 | +0.7 | −0.6 | −0.3 | +1.0 | −0.4 | +0.2 | +1.1 |
| 2022 | +2.8 | +3.1 | ±0.0 | +0.3 | +2.4 | +3.3 | +4.0 | +2.3 | −0.1 | +3.8 | +1.2 | +0.5 |
| 2023 | +1.5 | +3.5 | +2.1 | −0.3 | −0.3 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +1.9 | +2.2 | +3.3 | +0.3 | +1.9 |
| 2024 | +2.2 | +4.4 | +0.9 | ±0.0 | −1.6 | −0.9 | +0.9 | +2.4 | −1.4 | +0.9 | +1.2 | +2.2 |
| 2025 | +0.8 | +1.4 | +0.8 | +1.2 | +0.3 | +2.4 | −0.4 | +0.7 | −0.2 | −0.5 | ±0.0 | +2.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
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 (Q14418) · 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.
