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I am looking for the coldest lake, pond or reservoir in Austria suitable for swimming (i.e. where swimming is legal) during the peak summer months (July and August).

The location doesn't matter as long as it's publicly accessible (no matter if it takes some hiking to get there).

To provide an example, Frillensee located in Germany close to the Austrian border is said to be the coldest lake in Central Europe but I wasn't able to verify this beyond hearsay.

The coldest I can remember (without having measured it back then) is a little lake called Seeleinsee in the Hagen Mountains. My bet is that the lake at the bottom of the sinkhole at Funtensee, the coldest place in Germany, should also be reasonably cold. Both of these examples are located in Germany though (albeit it close to the border with Austria).

Are there similar occurrences of lakes in Austria?

martin
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Maybe this (in German) artical make give you some hint of where to look.
It is more scientific in nature than touristic.

Lunz am See plus a 3 hour hike in the mountains (1270 meters height) where areas can be found with tempature of 2 degrees, when in Vienna it is 30 at night.

No meantion of ponds or lakes directly, but possibly some exist.

https://diepresse.com/home/panorama/oesterreich/1442409/Frost-im-Hochsommer_Wo-Oesterreich-am-kaeltesten-ist

Other, more touristic sites meantion the coldest lakes as between 18 and 20. Kärnten with the most (1200) and Afritzer See, Kärnten as a public see for swimming with 20 degrees.

https://www.urlaubsguru.at/reisemagazin/die-kaeltesten-badeseen-in-oesterreich/

Mark Johnson
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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2018/aug/03/a-colder-splash-ice-swimming-in-austria-in-pictures

While Europe swelters, members of the Austrian Ice Swimming Association spent three days in the Tyrol for training sessions in a kettle hole at the Nature ice palace inside the Hintertux glacier. Between 25 and 35 metres below the surface, the temperature of the glacier meltwater is -0.2C and the air temperature between 0C and 1C.

It really can't get any colder than that or it would be ice and not water.

Relevant links: https://www.tyrol.com/things-to-do/attractions/all-attractions/a-natural-ice-palace-hintertux-glacier

https://www.facebook.com/IISA-Austria-449159911908185/