Lakes of Jura 2026: 16 lakes, its biggest own one is a pond
In the Jura, lakes are called étangs, ponds, and that says a lot. The largest lake lying entirely within the canton is the Etang de la Gruère, 8.6 ha. Only the Lac de Biaufond on the Doubs is bigger, and the Jura shares it with France.
Number of lakes in Jura: 16
16 lakes of half a hectare or more, and yet the national map shows 333 bodies of standing water in Jura. The gap is not imprecision; it is a way of counting.
- 1333 water surfaces appear in swisstopo's landscape model for the canton.
- 238 of them are at least half a hectare (5,000 m²).
- 319 carry an official name, however small.
- 416 are both, named and at least 0.5 ha. That is what we count as a lake.
Anyone reading a different figure has almost always drawn a different line: count every water surface and Jura has 333; count only lakes over one square kilometre and you get none at all. Even a plain name such as "Weiher" counts as official: what decides is the entry in the swissNAMES3D gazetteer. Our count states where the line is, so it can be checked.
Lake Finder: find any lake in Jura
Every officially named lake in Switzerland with area, elevation and canton. Filter by elevation and canton, search in all national languages.
- Municipalities: La Chaux-de-Fonds · Les Bois · La FerrièreArea by canton: Neuchâtel 14% · Jura 5% · Bern 3% · rest abroad
- Officially 2 water surfaces with the same name
Source: swissTLM3D, swissNAMES3D, swissBOUNDARIES3D (© swisstopo, 2026 edition). Area = entire water surface, including the foreign part for border lakes. Elevation = water level in the landscape model. Analysis by ConvivaPlus.
Largest lake in Jura: Etang de la Gruère
The largest lake touching Jura is the Lac de Biaufond (56 ha), but only 5% of its surface lies in the canton. The largest lake belonging entirely to the canton is the Etang de la Gruère: 8.6 ha at 997 m.
| Lake | Area | Elevation | Share in canton |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lac de Biaufond | 56 ha | 609 m | 5% |
| Etang de la Gruère | 8.6 ha | 997 m | 100% |
| Le Neuf Etang | 6.1 ha | 438 m | 100% |
| Etang du Milieu | 5.5 ha | 437 m | 100% |
| Etang de Lucelle | 4.0 ha | 598 m | 100% |
| Etang des Coeudres | 2.4 ha | 426 m | 100% |
| Etang de Vendlincourt | 1.9 ha | 449 m | 100% |
| Etang des Royes | 1.7 ha | 964 m | 100% |
| Etang de la Montoie | 1.5 ha | 499 m | 100% |
| Etangs du Dinosaure | 1.5 ha | 430 m | 100% |
Highest lake in Jura: Etang de la Gruère
Even the highest lake in Jura lies lower than 68% of Swiss lakes: the Etang de la Gruère in Saignelégier at 997 m, 8.6 ha.
The canton's lowest-lying lake is a body of water in Damphreux-Lugnez simply named "Pisciculture" at 423 m. The canton's median lake sits at 456 m. Elevation is the water level in the landscape model; for reservoirs it varies with how full they are. 1 of the 16 lakes in the canton has a dam or embankment (structures in swissTLM3D): Lac de Biaufond.
Shared lakes: which lakes Jura shares
Jura shares 1 of its 16 lakes with other cantons and with other countries, but it makes up only 7% of its lake surface: most of the water in the canton belongs to it alone.
List of lakes in Jura
The list shows all 19 officially named bodies of water in the canton, by area. The 16 lakes of half a hectare or more come first; smaller ponds are marked.
- 1.Lac de Biaufond · 3 municipalities56 ha609 m
- 2.Etang de la Gruère · Saignelégier8.6 ha997 m
- 3.Le Neuf Etang · Basse-Vendline6.1 ha438 m
- 4.Etang du Milieu · Basse-Vendline5.5 ha437 m
- 5.Etang de Lucelle · Pleigne4.0 ha598 m
- 6.Etang des Coeudres · Damphreux-Lugnez2.4 ha426 m
- 7.Etang de Vendlincourt · Vendlincourt1.9 ha449 m
- 8.Etang des Royes · Saignelégier1.7 ha964 m
- 9.Etang de la Montoie · Cornol1.5 ha499 m
- 10.Etangs du Dinosaure · Porrentruy1.5 ha430 m
- 11.Pisciculture · Damphreux-Lugnez1.1 ha423 m
- 12.Etang des Lavoirs · Boécourt1.0 ha508 m
- 13.Étang de la Réselle · Soyhières0.97 ha463 m
- 14.Etangs Rougeats · Basse-Vendline0.94 ha440 m
- 15.Etang de Bollement · Saint-Brais0.88 ha771 m
- 16.Etang Corbat · Porrentruy0.50 ha431 m
- 17.Etang de Pouche · Alle890 m²458 m
- 18.Creux de l'Epral · Le Noirmont590 m²987 m
- 19.Etang Go d'Améré · Boécourt80 m²495 m
Lakes by size: 12 of 16 under 5 ha
12 of the 16 lakes in Jura are smaller than five hectares. 1 are larger than ten hectares, which puts Jura at rank 21 of the 26 cantons.
Lakes over ten hectares thus make up 6%, against 20% across Switzerland.
The median lake in Jura sits 1451 m lower than the median Swiss lake (1907 m).
Lakes by municipality: Basse-Vendline has the most
The municipality with the most lakes is not on the canton's largest lake (Etang de la Gruère): Basse-Vendline, with 3 lakes. Counted are lakes lying entirely within the canton and in no more than two municipalities; a large lake belongs to many. The Lake Finder can search by municipality.
- Basse-Vendline3Le Neuf Etang · Etang du Milieu · Etangs Rougeats
- Damphreux-Lugnez2Etang des Coeudres · Pisciculture
- Porrentruy2Etangs du Dinosaure · Etang Corbat
- Saignelégier2Etang de la Gruère · Etang des Royes
- Boécourt1Etang des Lavoirs
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891 lakes of half a hectare or more, 16 of them in Jura, number 12 among the 26 cantons by count of lakes. Grisons has the most, with 236.
86 lakes of 0.5 ha or more; the largest entirely within the canton is Thunersee, 47.8 km².
Residents, taxes, rents, wages and events: Jura in figures.
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ConvivaPlus Editor · Data & Switzerland
Writes about Switzerland in figures – official data recalculated, counting method explained.
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- 26 cantons
- Waterways
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Source: swisstopo (swissTLM3D, swissNAMES3D, swissBOUNDARIES3D, 2026 edition), analysis by ConvivaPlus. Switzerland as a whole: 891 lakes out of 17'873 water surfaces; parts with the same name no more than 50 m apart count as one lake. Area = water surface at the shoreline of the landscape model; reference works using a different shoreline or water level sometimes give other values.
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