Millstatter See

The Millstätter See is about twelve kilometres long and around a hundred and forty metres deep, which makes it the deepest lake in Carinthia and the second largest, lying east to west between the Nockberge and the Millstätter Alpe. Like the other Carinthian lakes it warms early and holds heat - swimming from late May is normal - and the shore is lined with lidos, hotels and promenades, particularly on the sunnier northern side. Millstatt itself grew around a Benedictine abbey founded around 1070, whose Romanesque cloister and church survive with carved capitals and a museum; the monastery later passed to the Knights of St George and then the Jesuits. A path runs along the shore, boats cross the lake, and the Millstätter Alpe above gives the standard view down the whole length.

What you actually see

• Carinthia's deepest lake - twelve kilometres long, some 140 metres deep.
• Warm water early - swimming normal from late May into September.
• Millstatt Abbey - the Romanesque cloister and church from around 1070.
• The Millstätter Alpe - the ridge above with the view down the lake.

When to go

June to September for the water. A day.

Honest expectations

Shore access is broken up by hotels and private lidos, several of which charge. High summer fills the promenades and parking. The southern shore gets much less sun.

Nearby

Spittal an der Drau is west; the Nockberge and Bad Kleinkirchheim are north.