Water temperature in Germany

Lakes, rivers and two seas

Swimming in Germany is mostly a lake affair. The Mecklenburg Lake District around the Müritz, the countless lakes of Brandenburg and the deep pre-Alpine lakes of Bavaria are where most people head in summer, alongside the North Sea and Baltic coasts and large rivers such as the Elbe, Main, Weser and Danube. Shallow lakes warm up quickly in early summer, while Lake Constance and the deeper Alpine lakes take their time and usually peak in August. Sheltered Baltic lagoons like the Greifswalder Bodden warm earlier than the open coast.

The 1782 sites shown here rest largely on the bathing water portals of the federal states. The Badewasserkarte M-V run by LAGuS accounts for 435 of them, followed by Badestellen Brandenburg from LAVG and the Badegewässer Schleswig-Holstein dataset. Those temperatures are recorded when officials take water samples, so they arrive at intervals rather than continuously. Continuous measurements come from PEGELONLINE gauges on federal waterways and from GKD Bayern, the Bavarian hydrological service, which covers rivers and lakes across the state.

Every designated bathing site in Germany is tested through the season and rated excellent, good, sufficient or poor under the EU Bathing Water Directive. Blue-green algae can appear during warm spells, and local health offices then post warnings or close the site. On the North Sea, tidal currents and channels in the mudflats are the main hazards, and onshore wind can create rip currents on the Baltic. In rivers, watch for current, shipping traffic and colder water just below a warm surface.