Lakes of Thurgau 2026: 38 lakes, 31 smaller than 5 ha

On Lake Constance, yet its own lakes are small. How small? ↓

Thurgau lies on Lake Constance, but its own lakes are small. 31 of 38 measure less than five hectares, and the largest lying entirely in the canton is the Hüttwiilersee, 34 ha.

Number of lakes in Thurgau: 38

38 lakes of half a hectare or more, and yet the national map shows 757 bodies of standing water in Thurgau. The gap is not imprecision; it is a way of counting.

Anyone reading a different figure has almost always drawn a different line: count every water surface and Thurgau has 757; count only lakes over one square kilometre and you get 2. 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 Thurgau

Largest lake in Thurgau: Hüttwiilersee

The largest lake touching Thurgau is the Bodensee (534.1 km²), but only 24% of its surface lies in the canton. The largest lake belonging entirely to the canton is the Hüttwiilersee: 34 ha at 435 m.

Highest lake in Thurgau: Bichelsee

Even the highest lake in Thurgau lies lower than 78% of Swiss lakes: the Bichelsee in Bichelsee-Balterswil at 591 m, 9.7 ha.

The canton's lowest-lying lake is the Hugiweiher in Frauenfeld at 381 m. The canton's median lake sits at 502 m. Elevation is the water level in the landscape model; for reservoirs it varies with how full they are.

Shared lakes: which lakes Thurgau shares

99% of the lake surface in Thurgau lies in lakes it does not own alone. Thurgau shares 2 of its 38 lakes, 2 with other cantons and 1 with other countries; the table shows how much of each lies in the canton. 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 Thurgau

An official name does not make a lake: 42 of the 80 named bodies of water in Thurgau measure less than half a hectare. The list shows all of them by area, the 38 lakes first, the smaller ones marked.

Lakes by size: 31 of 38 under 5 ha

31 of the 38 lakes in Thurgau are smaller than five hectares. 4 are larger than ten hectares, which puts Thurgau at rank 14 of the 26 cantons.

Measured by area, the small lakes almost vanish: the 31 of the 38 lakes of half a hectare or more that stay under five hectares together cover less than 1% of the lake surface in Thurgau.

Lakes by municipality: Hauptwil-Gottshaus has the most

The municipality with the most lakes is not on the canton's largest lake (Bodensee): Hauptwil-Gottshaus, with 5 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.

• Hauptwil-Gottshaus5Horber Weier · Horbacher Weier · Rütiweier · Gwandweier · Hauptwiler Weier
• Hüttwilen4Hüttwiilersee · Nussbommersee · Hasesee · Staanegger Weier
• Kreuzlingen3Groossweier · Sauöösch · Pfaffeweier
• Frauenfeld2Hugiweiher · Lättiweier
• Kemmental2Obere Bommerweier · Undere Bommerweier
• Neunforn2Wilemer See · Barchetsee
• Uesslingen-Buch2Hüttwiilersee · Hasesee

More lake pages

Written by

Marco Gisler

ConvivaPlus Editor · Data & Switzerland

Writes about Switzerland in figures – official data recalculated, counting method explained.

• Population
• 26 cantons
• Waterways
• Official data

Researched & sourced · for Switzerland

Profile & all articles →·Our editorial teamUpdated 25.10.2026

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.