Lake · Switzerland
Walensee
Lake in Switzerland
- Area
- 23.2km²
- Max depth
- 151m
- Average depth
- 96m
- Elevation
- 418m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 35km
- Volume
- 2.2km³
Walensee is a lake in Switzerland. It covers 23.2 km². On average it is 96 m deep, and 151 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 418 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Walensee?
The water is warmest in July, around 21 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, 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 19 °C on average in July and -2 °C in January. The driest month is February (70 mm of rain), the wettest August (185 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (63 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 | 5 | 5 | -2 | -10 | 92 | 14 | 2.5 | 7 |
| February | 4 | 4 | -1 | -10 | 70 | 12 | 3.8 | 7 |
| March | 6 | 7 | 3 | -5 | 91 | 15 | 5.3 | 6 |
| April | 9 | 11 | 9 | -1 | 93 | 16 | 6.5 | 6 |
| May | 13 | 16 | 14 | 3 | 147 | 20 | 6.7 | 6 |
| June | 18 | 20 | 18 | 8 | 173 | 20 | 8.0 | 5 |
| July | 21 | 21 | 19 | 10 | 169 | 20 | 8.1 | 5 |
| August | 21 | 21 | 19 | 9 | 185 | 19 | 7.3 | 5 |
| September | 18 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 121 | 16 | 6.0 | 5 |
| October | 13 | 16 | 11 | 1 | 103 | 14 | 4.2 | 6 |
| November | 9 | 11 | 4 | -4 | 91 | 14 | 2.4 | 6 |
| December | 6 | 8 | 0 | -8 | 93 | 14 | 2.0 | 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 3.6 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 443 km² of land.
- About 19 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Walensee
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 24beaches and swimming spots
Badestrand Gäsi, Badestrand Lago Mio, Strandbad Mols and 21 more
- 4campsites
Gäsi, Camping Murg, Camping Terza, See-Camping
- 19boat hire and water-sport clubs
Tunnel 1, Kraftwerk, Rastplatz, Schiffsstation Stralegg, Teufwinkel and 14 more
- 18marinas and slipways
Weesen, Hafen Walenstadt, Hafen Gäsi, Bootshafen Mühlehorn and 14 more
- 10ferry piers
Murg Ost (See), Quinten, Murg West (See), Weesen (See), Walenstadt (See) and 5 more
- 31viewpoints
Stollenkopf, Chapf, Feuerstelle, Seerenbachfälle, Murgbach-Wasserfall and 26 more
- 27hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Sternen, Hirschen, RömerTurm, Lofthotel, Rössli and 22 more
- —fishing spots
- 63restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Walenstadt5,000 people
- Quarten2,715 people
- Amden1,557 people
- Weesen1,402 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Sankt Gallen Altenrhein Airport (ACH), 47 km in a straight line.
Car hire at ACH airport (St. Gallen)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Photos
Seen by visitors
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 | -0.9 | 3.2 | 9.1 | 13.6 | 17.6 | 19.2 | 18.8 | 14.6 | 10.6 | 4.3 | -0.4 |
| 2020 | +2.7 | +3.2 | +1.8 | +4.0 | +0.5 | −1.9 | +0.3 | +0.8 | +1.7 | −2.4 | +3.2 | ±0.0 |
| 2021 | −1.4 | +1.6 | −2.4 | −2.8 | −3.1 | +2.2 | ±0.0 | −1.6 | +2.1 | −0.6 | −0.1 | +0.6 |
| 2022 | +0.7 | +1.3 | +0.9 | −0.4 | +2.1 | +3.2 | +2.1 | +1.6 | −0.5 | +4.1 | +0.9 | +0.9 |
| 2023 | +0.6 | +3.4 | +2.7 | −2.0 | +0.1 | +1.8 | +1.5 | +1.4 | +4.9 | +3.5 | −1.5 | +1.3 |
| 2024 | +1.1 | +3.4 | +1.5 | −0.3 | −0.1 | +0.4 | +1.7 | +3.3 | +0.2 | +1.8 | +1.7 | +1.0 |
| 2025 | +1.3 | +1.7 | +3.1 | +3.1 | −0.4 | +4.3 | −1.3 | +1.5 | +1.6 | −0.7 | −0.1 | +2.8 |
+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 (Q14444) · 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.
