20190725 Oeschinensee-Panorama, Kandersteg (06540-42 stitch)

This is a list of high-altitude

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It includes all significant lakes, natural or artificial, with an area over 4

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s and a height over 800 metres above sea level. This height approximately corresponds to the transition between the foothill zone and the montane zone, in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

and in the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Fre ...

. Lakes can be found up to elevations of almost 3000 metres, where is the climatic

snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

in the Alps. For each lake, the culminating point of the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is indicated, along with the river basin of which it is part. For a list of artificial lakes only, see

List of dams and reservoirs in Switzerland List of lakes with a dam in Switzerland with a volume of more than 10 million cubic metres (m³): Values in bold are the extreme values (e.g., highest and lowest) of the particular column. See also * List of tallest dams in Switzerland * L ...

. For a general list of lakes, see

List of lakes of Switzerland This article contains a sortable table listing all major lakes of Switzerland. The table includes all still water bodies, natural or artificial, that have a surface area of at least , regardless of water volume, maximum depth or other metric. The ...

Distribution of mountain lakes by canton

Main list

Notes and references

External links

Mountain lakes (MySwitzerland.com)
{{Portal bar, Geography, Mountains, Switzerland

*Mountain Lakes, mountain Lists of tourist attractions in Switzerland