Geography & Countries

The Deepest Lakes in Europe

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.

Hornindalsvatnet, the deepest lake in Europe, in Norway
Rank Lake Max Depth Country
1Hornindalsvatnet514 mNorway
2Salvatnet482 mNorway
3Tinnsjø460 mNorway
4Mjøsa453 mNorway
5Lake Como410 mItaly
6Lake Maggiore372 mItaly, Switzerland
7Lake Garda346 mItaly
8Lake Geneva310 mSwitzerland, France
9Loch Morar310 mUnited Kingdom
10Lake Ohrid288 mAlbania, North Macedonia
11Lake Lugano288 mSwitzerland, Italy
12Lake Ladoga230 mRussia

The Top 5

#1

Hornindalsvatnet — 514 m

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.[1]

#2

Salvatnet — 482 m

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.[1]

#3

Tinnsjø — 460 m

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.[1]

#4

Mjøsa — 453 m

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.[1]

#5

Lake Como — 410 m

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.[1]

Geography Lakes Europe

Sources

  1. Maximum-depth figures aggregated from lake-depth reference compilations and national geographic-survey data for Norway, Italy, Switzerland, and neighboring countries.