Schaffhausen lakes 2026: Lake Constance + 5 ponds under 2 ha
Schaffhausen touches a corner of Lake Constance, and otherwise has only ponds. The largest one lying entirely within the canton is the Ängiwäier, 1.9 ha. Here, water means the Rhine.
Number of lakes in Schaffhausen: 6
6 lakes of half a hectare or more, and yet the national map shows 162 bodies of standing water in Schaffhausen. The gap is not imprecision; it is a way of counting.
- 1162 water surfaces appear in swisstopo's landscape model for the canton.
- 213 of them are at least half a hectare (5,000 m²).
- 314 carry an official name, however small.
- 46 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 Schaffhausen has 162; count only lakes over one square kilometre and you get 1. Even a plain name such as "Weiher" counts as official: what decides is the entry in the swissNAMES3D gazetteer. Namesakes more than 50 m apart count separately, which is why "Wäier" in Schaffhausen appears twice in the list. Our count states where the line is, so it can be checked.
Lake Finder: find any lake in Schaffhausen
Every officially named lake in Switzerland with area, elevation and canton. Filter by elevation and canton, search in all national languages.
- Municipalities: Stein am Rhein · Thal · Arbon · Kreuzlingen · Eschenz · Ermatingen · Mammern · Salenstein · Güttingen · Romanshorn · Münsterlingen · Egnach · Horn · Uttwil · Bottighofen · Steinach · Kesswil · Altnau · Steckborn · Rorschach · Goldach · Rorschacherberg · Gottlieben · Berlingen · SalmsachOfficial names: Lac de Constance · Lago di Costanza · Lai da ConstanzaArea by canton: Thurgau 24% · St. Gallen 9% · Schaffhausen 0.0% · rest abroadOfficially 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 Schaffhausen: Ängiwäier
The largest lake touching Schaffhausen is the Bodensee (534.1 km²), but only 0.0% of its surface lies in the canton. The largest lake belonging entirely to the canton is the Ängiwäier: 1.9 ha at 544 m.
| Lake | Area | Elevation | Share in canton |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodensee | 534.1 km² | 396 m | 0.0% |
| Ängiwäier | 1.9 ha | 544 m | 100% |
| Wäier | 1.5 ha | 420 m | 100% |
| Aaltewäier | 0.67 ha | 429 m | 100% |
| See | 0.67 ha | 422 m | 100% |
| Obere Müliwäier | 0.63 ha | 438 m | 100% |
Highest lake in Schaffhausen: Ängiwäier
Even the highest lake in Schaffhausen lies lower than 82% of Swiss lakes: the Ängiwäier in Schaffhausen at 544 m, 1.9 ha.
The canton's lowest-lying lake is the Bodensee at 396 m. The canton's median lake sits at 426 m. Elevation is the water level in the landscape model; for reservoirs it varies with how full they are. 1 of the 6 lakes in the canton has a dam or embankment (structures in swissTLM3D): Ängiwäier.
Shared lakes: which lakes Schaffhausen shares
Schaffhausen shares 1 of its 6 lakes with other cantons and with other countries, but it makes up less than 1% of its lake surface: most of the water in the canton belongs to it alone. On Lake Constance there is no legal border, only a technical one (swisstopo); the Swiss share follows it and is a calculation.
List of lakes in Schaffhausen
An official name does not make a lake: 8 of the 14 named bodies of water in Schaffhausen measure less than half a hectare. The list shows all of them by area, the 6 lakes first, the smaller ones marked.
- 1.Bodensee · 25 municipalities534.1 km²396 m
- 2.Ängiwäier · Schaffhausen1.9 ha544 m
- 3.Wäier · Schaffhausen1.5 ha420 m
- 4.Aaltewäier · Thayngen0.67 ha429 m
- 5.See · Wilchingen0.67 ha422 m
- 6.Obere Müliwäier · Stein am Rhein0.63 ha438 m
- 7.Ägelsee · Thayngen0.47 ha440 m
- 8.Bruedersee · Thayngen0.36 ha511 m
- 9.Egelsee · Stein am Rhein0.35 ha419 m
- 10.Wäier · Schaffhausen0.33 ha553 m
- 11.Nägelsee · Schaffhausen0.31 ha447 m
- 12.Seeli · Dörflingen0.19 ha474 m
- 13.Wäier · Stetten (SH)940 m²471 m
- 14.Aalte liswäier · Neuhausen am Rheinfall770 m²451 m
Lakes by size: 5 of 6 under 5 ha
5 of the 6 lakes in Schaffhausen are smaller than five hectares. 1 are larger than ten hectares, which puts Schaffhausen at rank 21 of the 26 cantons.
Lakes over ten hectares thus make up 17%.
In Schaffhausen, only one water surface in 27 on the national map is a lake; across Switzerland, one in 20.
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❓ Frequently asked questions about the lakes of Schaffhausen
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891 lakes of half a hectare or more, 6 of them in Schaffhausen, number 18 among the 26 cantons by count of lakes. Grisons has the most, with 236.
57 lakes of 0.5 ha or more; the largest entirely within the canton is Gigerwaldsee, 68 ha.
Residents, taxes, rents, wages and events: Schaffhausen in figures.
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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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