What's the most beautiful lake in the world?

I'll see your lake and raise you a spring.

Lake Como.

Lake Garda in Italy. I like it much better than the overrated Lake Como and Maggiore.

OP, I don’t recall whether it was DH Lawrence or Graham Greene who said that Atitlan is the most beautiful. I agree. It’s gorgeous. Lake Como for the best combo of natural and artificial beauty.

Lac Leman - Lake Geneva - has varied landscapes all around it. The Swiss-Italian lakes are gorgeous as well. The mountains are not as dramatic as the Alps but the Adirondack lakes are beautiful.

Lake Toba

R1, I grew up swimming in those Florida springs. There are a number of them. We never even worried about gators back then. We just had fun fun fun. We would float down the riverlets that ran to and from the springs on tubes without a care in the world. The only problem was Rock Springs that had rough rocks on the bottom and cut your feet.

Nostalgia.

Emerald Lake, Canadian Rockies

Lake Louise, Canadian Rockies

Lake Kalamalka, British Columbia, Canada.

Agree with R9 Lake Louise is spectacular

I'm aching to visit Switzerland again specifically to see Lake Lucerne.

Lake Placid and Mirror Lake are smaller lakes and the town is a great place for a weekend getaway. A small and friendly town where you can walk to everything. .

I get Lake Louise confused with Moraine Lake. They're both just outside the town of Lake Louise. They are both spectacular. So I'm not sure if what I posted was Lake Louise or Moraine Lake. Peyto Lake is also beautiful.

That area of Canada is awe inspiring.

Atitlán is beautiful, but the series of swimmable, cascading, turquoise pools at Semuc Champey (also in Guatemala) might be even prettier.

Laguna Paron in Peru is beautiful.

R15 That reminds me of Plitvice lakes in Croatia a bit. Unfortunately these lakes have been completely overrun with tourists. There are narrow wooden pathways that lead you through the park and you can pretty much move only in one direction on them, because there are so many people there.

[quote] Laguna Paron in Peru is beautiful.

Don’t cry for me, Lagunatina!

R17, I've always wanted to go there. If I make it to Croatia, I would like to see it -- it's a shame about it being overrun with tourists, but I guess that can't be helped.

Another purty lake near Plitvice is Lake Bled in Slovenia. Unfortunately this one has also been ruined by mass tourism. The modern town that grew up around its northern shores is unbelievably ugly.

R20, gorgeous.

Lake Placid -- you might see a celebrity!

Come on, DL. Everyone knows it's Lake Dardanelle!

Veronica

Grinnell Lake in Glacier National Park wins for the best in the US, IMO.

Green Lake. Austria

There's nothing special about the artifical Lake Reschen in Italy but the sight of a medieval belltower rising from the water is pretty amazing.

These are beautiful choices.

Lake Titicaca in Peru

OMG R1 I want to just jump in right now!

Crater Lake, Oregon.

Lake Toba for sure and there may be cannibals there too.

A lake can be beautiful without mountains soaring in the background. Lake Vermilion on the southern edge of the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota.

R29 I agree

My fave - Waterton Lake, Alberta

Is Canada known as the Land of a Thousand Lakes?

Tahoe, bitch.

Lake Titicaca.

Piton de l'Eau, Réunion

Lake Waccamaw, which is an unusual large, fresh-water, natural lake in southeast North Carolina.

It was created by a metorite eons ago. Scientists have removed the bones of a whale that they say may date back 1 - 3 million years.

Any lake in Canada.....Ontario alone has more freshwater lakes, than the worlds lakes combined

R29 = scat troll

Country with the highest number of lakes in the world is Finland. But since Finland is as flat as a pancake they all look very much alike. But I love those tiny lakeside cottages Finns retreat to in the summer.

Lower Grinnell Lake in Glacier National Park is my personal favorite

Certainly not Lake Titicaca (its name tells you all you need to know).

Another vote for Lake Louise. All the lakes posted here are beautiful though. Esp the one in Croatia. It looks like a fairy tale setting.

R46 Here's something to ruin your fairytale fantasy - the boardwalk crowds I mentioned earlier. I think they will have to limit the daily number of visitors sooner or later because these lakes are a UNESCO world heritage site. UNESCO already forced Dubrovnik to cut down on the number of cruise ships that are allowed to park in its harbour because the old town was getting ridiculously overcrowded during the summer.

Here's a more peaceful lake to visit in Croatia: "Veliko Jezero" on the island of Mljet.

Gorgeous r48.

Lake Atitlan looks sooo beautiful.

For your consideration, Crater Lake in Oregon.

So many of these beautiful lakes are so cold that you'd die of hypothermia if you fell out of a boat.

R43... Sorry, you're wrong. Canada is more lakes than the world combined

Correct R14...that's Moraine Lake in R9, minus the busloads of overseas tourists

Another vote for Lake Louise, Plitvice, Bled and . . .

Lake Manapouri, Fiordland, South Island, New Zealand

I agree about the lake in glacier national Park. It is absolutely stunning.

Yet another vote for Lake Louise, though Lake Como is close behind. (Now I want to see Lake Garda, as well as other lakes mentioned here. Great thread.)

This one...

This pink lake in Australia looks pretty unique.

R58 That looks fucking amazing. But I checked the wikipedia page of that lake and it says the lake hasn't been pink since 2007, because it isn't as salty as it used to be and it was the salt that caused that crazy color. Apparently they're thinking about renaming it from Pink Lake to Lake Spencer because of all the disappointed tourists who come there expecting to see pink water.

R59, interesting! Love the aerial view.

Is there a nice lakeside village in Ontario? I've been planning an escape and have thought about the Adirondacks but I grew up near there. Please Canadian friends, recommend a lake that has a nice town to explore. Preferable not Lake Ontario. Been there done that.

Isn't Lake Atitlán in OP's post so polluted at this point the authorities advise tourists against swimming in it? Or am I thinking of another SA lake?

R62 I knew it wasn't the cleanest lake around but I had no idea things were this bad. This is from a 2016 article:

[quote] Experts confirmed the presence of cyanobacteria in Lake Atitlán in 2009. The toxic strains of the bacteria can affect the liver, kidneys, central nervous system and skin of both humans and animals, and it has been linked to degenerative brain diseases. Seven years later, the lake is still contaminated, says Margaret Dix, a researcher at the Altiplano campus at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

Wolfgangsee in Austria, forever immortalized in the opening scene of The Sound of Music.

Nearby Hallstätter See is even prettier but for some reason wasn't included in the TSOM opening montage.

Lake Michigan and the Sleeping Bear Dunes are breathtaking.

Aerial view of the Dunes

If you go to Plitvice in Croatia out of season it is not nearly so bad, or at least that was the case just a few years ago. Same goes for Dubrovnik. Avoid June, July and August and the crowds are significantly less. Also, Plitvice has the upper and lower lakes walks - the lower lakes are where the most spectacular and widely shared photos are taken but the upper lakes is a bit wilder and less visited and also very beautiful.

Queenstown in New Zealand

I went skiing in Zell am See, Austria. It was lovely and reminded me of a smaller Lake Tahoe.

Laguna 69, Peru

[quote] If I make it to Croatia, I would like to see it -- it's a shame about it being overrun with tourists, but I guess that can't be helped.

Be a part of the solution, not the problem. Stay home!

It's those lazy cruise ship tourists who are the problem, not solo tourists (and I hope R19 is one of these). All cruise ship tourists do is crowd the tourist destinations and spend very little money in the places they descend upon (since they have everything they need on those floating malls they travel with). And cruise ships also pollute the seas like crazy.

Lough Ouler, County Wicklow, Ireland.

Does it always feature beautiful Peruvian ass?

R71 wins for the naked mens...

Lake titicaca

It's more caca than titty these days!

R75, only the brave fellas. I dipped my bare feet into that lake and it's ice cold!

It's those lazy cruise ship tourists who are the problem, not solo tourists (and I hope [R19] is one of these). All cruise ship tourists do is crowd the tourist destinations and spend very little money in the places they descend upon (since they have everything they need on those floating malls they travel with). And cruise ships also pollute the seas like crazy.

I blame Rick Steves!

Definitely not a cruise ship tourist -- have never been on one. I would love to visit Croatia though. Their beaches look gorgeous.

Lake Baikal in Russia. The world’s oldest, deepest, and most voluminous fresh water lake. Home to many species found nowhere else in the world.

The North Shore of Lake Superior is spectacular in spots, though due to the size of the lake it can seem more like an oceanic coastline.

Lake Sinclair, Georgia

Picture please, R84.

Laguna Glaciar, Bolivia

Photo of the lake R84 mentioned. Now I know why he didn't post a pic.

Apparently that ugly power plant was demolished in 2016. Good riddance! But the lake still seems very meh.

You can't swim in the lake at Queenstown! Too cold.

The lake in Maine where I went to camp growing up - Echo Lake - north of Augusta, will always be my favorite.

Ross Lake in the North Cascades National Park, Washington State

Crescent Lake, Olympic National Park, Washington State

R14 mentioned Peyto Lake, but didn't post a picture of it.

Another vote for Lake Michigan. My dream would be to retire and be the lighthouse keeper.

Trying this again. I don't think the link I used before is working.

Lake St Marys in Montana, that is a very small island in the center.

Inle lake in Burma. Truly in the middle of nowhere.

a view of one of the temples built on islands in the lake

Lake Geneva (France & Switzerland) Chateau de Chillon

I stumbled upon this one while driving north to Alaska, when I awoke the next morning it was a smooth mirror, almost a spiritual experience.

Muncho Lake, British Columbia, Canada.

Lake Berryessa is such a nice place to go and find a secluded spot.

Silver Lake Michigan, the water in the photo is of Lake Michigan though. Silver Lake is right next to Lake Michigan. There is Silver Lake, huge sand dunes and then Lake Michigan going east to west. The dunes are slowing filling in Silver Lake, some day it will disappear.

Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire in the fall.

Lake Minnetonka.

Laguna Humantay, Peru

I was in Queensland New Zealand, can't remember the beautiful lake's name but it was featured in Top of the Lake. Anyway, I was bummed to know it is never warm enough to swim in. Many Glacier lakes are not ever warm enough for a swim.

In U.S. - Lake Tahoe Overseas - Lake Lucerne