Blausee

Blausee is tiny, a few hundred metres around, fed by underground springs that arrive already filtered through rock, and the result is water so clear that fallen trunks are visible on the bottom several metres down while the surface reads deep blue. The colour is optics rather than pigment: clarity plus depth plus the light through surrounding forest. The site has been in private hands since the nineteenth century and is run as an enclosed park with an entrance fee, a hotel, a restaurant and a trout farm whose fish are raised in the spring water and sold across the region. Glass-bottomed rowing boats cross the lake. A local legend explains the colour with a girl who drowned here, which the site tells at length.

What you actually see

• Water you can see the bottom through - spring-fed and rock-filtered.
• A private park - fenced, ticketed, with hotel and restaurant.
• A spring-water trout farm - fish raised on site and served there.
• Glass-bottomed boats - short rows across the lake.

When to go

May to October. Two hours - it is small.

Honest expectations

It is ticketed and commercial, which surprises people expecting a wild lake, and it is very small - an hour covers the circuit. Swimming is not allowed. It fills with coaches at midday. Prices in the restaurant are high.

Nearby

Kandersteg and Oeschinensee are up the valley; Gasterntal is behind them.