Turquoise water
Clear.
Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sandor Bordas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kritzolina — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ralf Wimmer from Germany — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Walchensee is one of the deepest and largest Alpine lakes in Germany, with a maximum depth of 192.3 metres and an area of 16.4 square kilometres, 75 km south of Munich in the middle of the Bavarian Alps and about 22 km northeast of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a straight line. The whole lake, including the island of Sassau, belongs to the municipality of Kochel and is owned by the State of Bavaria. The name Walchen comes from Middle High German for strangers, the word locals used for the Romance-speaking peoples south of Bavaria; it may also come from the Latin for lake in a valley. On 16th-century maps it was also labelled the way to Italy, as the route through its valley led via Innsbruck to Italy. The lake fills a tectonic valley, which explains its great depth. Clear turquoise water stretches between forested mountains, shading from pale green near the shore to deep blue in the middle. The wooded island of Sassau sits in the lake, and pebble beaches and wooden boathouses line its shores. Visitors stroll and swim along the shore in summer, and many climb the neighbouring Herzogstand for a view over the whole lake. Clear mornings bring out the turquoise of the water.
Clear.
A view from above.
On the shore.
Kochel am See, Bavaria, Germany
192.3 metres.
From the Herzogstand.