Ranked strictly by maximum depth, not surface area — Norway's Hornindalsvatnet is a fraction of the size of Russia's Lake Ladoga, yet a diver would have to descend nearly six times deeper to reach its floor.
Pictured: Hornindalsvatnet in Norway, #1 at 514 m deep.
| Rank | Lake | Max Depth | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hornindalsvatnet | 514 m | Norway |
| 2 | Salvatnet | 482 m | Norway |
| 3 | Tinnsjø | 460 m | Norway |
| 4 | Mjøsa | 453 m | Norway |
| 5 | Lake Como | 410 m | Italy |
| 6 | Lake Maggiore | 372 m | Italy, Switzerland |
| 7 | Lake Garda | 346 m | Italy |
| 8 | Lake Geneva | 310 m | Switzerland, France |
| 9 | Loch Morar | 310 m | United Kingdom |
| 10 | Lake Ohrid | 288 m | Albania, North Macedonia |
| 11 | Lake Lugano | 288 m | Switzerland, Italy |
| 12 | Lake Ladoga | 230 m | Russia |
No matching rows.
The deepest lake in Europe and the only one on the continent (outside the Caspian Sea) deeper than 500 meters — a research team completed the first-ever dive to its true bottom in 2019. Unlike most Norwegian lakes, it isn't fed by glacial rivers, which leaves its water exceptionally clear, and parts of its shoreline are the only known beaches in the world made of green sand.[1]
A narrow, glacially carved lake near Rana in Nordland, Norway's second-deepest — modern echo-sounding surveys have revised its measured depth upward over older manual soundings. It's meromictic, meaning a layer of ancient seawater trapped from when the basin was still an open fjord sits at the bottom without ever mixing with the fresh water above.[1]
A long, fjord-like lake in Telemark, Norway, best known for the 1944 sabotage sinking of the ferry SF Hydro in its waters during a World War II operation to halt Nazi heavy-water production nearby. The heavy water came from the Vemork plant at Rjukan, now part of a UNESCO World Heritage industrial site, and the sunken ferry still rests on the lake floor along with the 14 civilians who died in the blast.[1]
Norway's largest lake by surface area as well as one of its deepest, stretching past Lillehammer and Hamar; DS Skibladner, launched here in 1856, is still the world's oldest paddle steamer in scheduled service. It drains south through the Vorma River into the Glomma, Norway's longest river, and its waters are known among anglers for trout that can grow past 15 kilograms.[1]
Western Europe's deepest lake, and deeper than its far larger Alpine neighbors Maggiore and Garda — its basin was carved and over-deepened by glaciers during the last ice age. Shaped like an inverted Y, its shores have supported a silk-weaving industry since the 15th century, when Milan's rulers encouraged mulberry planting for silkworms around the lake.[1]
A long, narrow lake stretching from Italy's Piedmont and Lombardy regions north into Switzerland's Ticino canton. It's Italy's second-largest lake by surface area, after Garda, and is known for the Borromean Islands rising from its western shore.[1]
Italy's largest lake by surface area, carved by glaciers at the foot of the Alps. Its mild microclimate supports olive groves and citrus trees around towns like Sirmione, on a narrow peninsula jutting into the southern shore.[1]
The largest lake in Central Europe by volume, a crescent-shaped basin shared by Switzerland and France with the Rhône flowing in at one end and out the other. Geneva, Lausanne, and Montreux all sit along its shores.[1]
The deepest body of fresh water anywhere in the British Isles, tucked into the Scottish Highlands west of Fort William. Like its more famous neighbor Loch Ness, it has its own resident lake-monster legend, known locally as Morag.[1]
Shared by Albania and North Macedonia, Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in the world at an estimated one to two million years, which has allowed hundreds of endemic species to evolve in its waters. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1]