Largest Lakes in Sweden

Vänern ( VAY-nərn, US also VEN-ərn, Swedish: [ˈvɛ̂ːnɛɳ]) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the southwest of the country. With its surface located at 44 metres (144 ft) above sea level and a maximum depth of 106 metres (348 ft), the lowest point of the Vänern basin is 62 metres (203 ft) below sea level. The average depth is a more modest 27 metres (89 ft), which means that the lake floor is above sea level on average.

Vänern drains into Göta älv towards Gothenburg and the Kattegat opening strait between the Atlantic Ocean’s North Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is the only one of the ten largest lakes in Sweden not to drain out to the eastern coastline. The Göta Canal built in the 19th century forms a waterway that runs to Vättern wholly rising when proceeding eastward, and then a navigable river linking the east coast with Vänern. The main inflow of water comes from Klarälven entering Vänern near Karlstad with its source in Trøndelag in Norway.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Vänern (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Vättern ( VET-ərn, Swedish: [ˈvɛ̌tːɛɳ]) is the second-largest lake in Sweden, after Vänern, and the sixth-largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden, to the southeast of Vänern, pointing at the tip of Scandinavia. Vättern is a relatively deep lake, containing about half as much water as Vänern despite having only about a third of it's surface area; its deepest point is 128 metres (420 ft) below the surface.

Vättern drains into Motala ström through Bråviken into the Baltic Sea, but since 1832 it has also had a downstream connection through the Göta Canal to Vänern and the Kattegat tributary of the Atlantic Ocean. The lake has plenty of sources from rivers and small lakes, with the highest located sources being near Nässjö on the South Swedish Highland near the southeastern shoreline.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Vättern (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Mälaren (UK: MEL-ər-en, US: MAY-lar-ən, Swedish: [ˈmɛ̂ːlarɛn] or [ˈmɛ̂ːlaɳ]), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is 1,140 km2 (440 sq mi) and its greatest depth is 64 m (210 ft). Mälaren spans 120 km (74.6 mi) from east to west. The lake drains, from south-west to north-east, into the Baltic Sea through its natural outlets Norrström and Söderström (as it flows around Stadsholmen island) and through the artificial Södertälje Canal and Hammarbyleden waterway. The easternmost bay of Mälaren, in central Stockholm, is called Riddarfjärden. The lake is located in Svealand and bounded by the provinces of Uppland, Södermanland and Västmanland. The two largest islands in Mälaren are Selaön (91 km2 (35.1 sq mi)) and Svartsjölandet (79 km2 (30.5 sq mi)). Mälaren is low-lying and mostly relatively shallow.

Being a quite narrow and shallow lake, Mälaren has bridge crossings between Eskilstuna and Västerås with two crossings on the western end at Kvicksund and three separate bridges between Strängnäs and Enköping in the central part of the lake.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Mälaren (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Storsjön (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstûːrɧøːn], lit. 'The Great Lake') is the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with an area of 464 km2 (179 sq mi) and a greatest depth of 74 m (243 ft). It is the largest lake in central Sweden, located in the province of Jämtland in modern Jämtland County. From Storsjön runs the river Indalsälven and the lake contains the major island Frösön. The city of Östersund is located on the east shore of the lake, opposite Frösön.

Storsjön is said to be the home of Storsjöodjuret, a cryptid lake monster not unlike the Loch Ness Monster, and every now and then there are new reports of people having spotted it. Descriptions of the creature have varied over the years. Some have described it as being serpentine in appearance, with multiple humps, a feline or canine-like head and grayish skin. Others have claimed that the creature is short in stature and morbidly obese, with a roundish skull.

The ferry company Vägverket Färjerederiet (run by the Swedish Road Authority) provides two ferry lines crossing the lake, one from Norderön to Håkansta and one from Isön to Norderön. They are replaced by ice roads during the winter, usually January–April.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Storsjön (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Hjälmaren (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɛ̂lːmarɛn] or [ˈjɛ̂lːmaɳ]), also spelled Jälmaren, is Sweden's fourth largest lake. It is situated in the Central Swedish lowland and drains through Eskilstunaån into the adjacent Lake Mälaren, which in turn drains into the Baltic Sea, west of Stockholm. It is connected by waterway with Stockholm by the 13 kilometres long Hjälmare kanal.

It is bounded by the provinces of Södermanland, Närke, and Västmanland.

Hjälmaren is 63 kilometres long, about 20 kilometres wide, and has an average depth of 6 metres, and a surface of 483 km2. The largest towns around the lake is Örebro and Eskilstuna situated at the western and eastern ends of the lake.

Between 1878 and 1887, a damming project lowered the surface level of Hjälmaren 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) to free up land for agriculture and to reduce the risk of flooding.

Rebel Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson was assassinated in 1436 at Engelbrektsholmen, an islet in Lake Hjälmaren.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Hjälmaren (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Torneträsk or Torne träsk (Swedish: [toːɳɛˈtrɛsːk]; Saami: Duortnosjávri; Finnish and Meänkieli: Tornio or Torniojärvi) is a lake in Kiruna Municipality, Lapland, Norrbotten County in Sweden, in the Scandinavian Mountains. Träsk is the local word for lake (in Standard Swedish it means "swamp"). It is the sixth-largest lake in Sweden, with a total area of 330 square kilometres (130 square miles) and a length of 70 kilometres (43 miles). The lake drains to the south-east through Torne river. South-west of the lake lies the Abisko National Park and the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponian area.

Torneträsk originated from the remnant of a glacier, which has given the lake its depth of 168 metres (551 feet), making it the second-deepest lake in Sweden. It is usually ice-covered from December through June, with variations dependent on temperature variations.

Permafrost is common in the land around the lake. This low elevation permafrost is disappearing because of global warming and increased snowfall.

During the 1944 Operation Obviate of WWII, British bombers seeking to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz had their rendezvous over Torneträsk, in violation of Swedish neutrality.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Torneträsk (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Siljan, in Dalarna in central Sweden, is Sweden's seventh largest lake. The cumulative area of Siljan and the adjacent, smaller lakes Orsasjön and Insjön is 354 km2 (137 sq mi). Siljan reaches a maximum depth of 134 m (440 ft), and its surface is situated 161 m (528 ft) above sea level. This renders the lowest point of the basin at 27 metres (89 ft) above sea level. The largest town on its shore is Mora.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Siljan (lake) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Stora Le or Lesjön in Swedish and Store Le in Norwegian is a lake in Dalsland, Sweden, the northern end of which proceeds into Norway and into Värmland, where it continues as Lake Foxen.

The lake stretches approximately 70 km (43.5 Mi) from Ed in the south past Nössemark to Töcksfors in the north, on Lake Foxen. It is a narrow lake, rarely measuring more than 2 to 3 km (1.2 to 1.9 mi) across, apart from a stretch forming part of Lake Foxen, where it reaches a full 5 km (3.1 mi). Stora Le and Lake Foxen combined cover 131 km2 (51 sq mi). This makes Stora Le the 19th largest lake in Sweden. Its greatest depth is 99 metres (325 ft) to the south of Västra Fågelvik in the Lake Foxen part.

The lake system's level has been controlled since 1945 when the level was raised by 6 dm (2 ft) to 102.1 m (335 ft) above sea level. Lake levels are allowed to vary within a 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) bandwidth. The maximum allowed outtake of water is 80 cubic metres (2,800 cu ft) per second. The lake is reachable by boat through the Dalsland Canal. The lake's shores are mountainous and the forest nearly grows down to the water line. Dalsland's provincial fish the fourhorn sculpin is also found in Stora Le.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Stora Le (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Akkajaure (from Lule Sami: Áhkájávrre) is one of the largest reservoirs in Sweden. It lies at the headwaters of the Lule River in Norrbotten County, in Swedish Lappland, within the Stora Sjöfallet national park. The lake formed after the construction of the first Suorva dam in 1913–1923. The rim of the current dam is at an elevation of 453 m (1,486 ft). When full, the lake's maximum depth is 92 m (302 ft), and its mean depth is about 30 m (98 ft). Because it is used for power generation, the lake depth fluctuates by up to 30 m (98 ft). On 8 January 2016, West Air Sweden Flight 294 crashed near Akkajaure, approximately 10 kilometres from the Norwegian border, killing both crew members on board.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Akkajaure (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Storavan is a lake in Norrbotten County, Lapland, Sweden, southeast of Lake Uddjaure, 421 metres (1,381 ft) above sea level.

There is a bird reserve near Storavan, which is a breeding site for red-necked grebe.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Storavan (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Storuman (Southern Sami: Luspie, Ume Sami: Lusspie) is a locality and the seat of Storuman Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 2,207 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated by the Ume River, at the southeastern end of Lake Storuman.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Storuman (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bolmen (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈbɔ̌lmɛn]) is a lake in Småland, Sweden. Covering 184 km2, and with a maximum depth of 37 m, it supplies a considerable part of Skåne with fresh water by means of an 82-km long tunnel, the Bolmen Water Tunnel, built during the 1970s and 80s. Bolmen is situated at the heart of Finnveden, one of the small lands of today's Småland.

It is the second largest lake in Småland, after Vättern. It is the tenth largest lake in Sweden.

It contains 365 islands, of which the largest is Bolmsö, which was historically the meeting-place of the local assembly.

As of 2024, the lake provides drinking water for over a million people in Southern Sweden.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Bolmen (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Hornavan is a lake in northern Sweden. Located in Arjeplog Municipality in the province of Swedish Lapland, administratively known as Norrbotten County, it is the deepest lake in Sweden at 221 metres (725 ft). Being a high mountain lake downstream from the source of the Skellefte River, the deepest point of the lake basin is still located 204 metres (669 ft) above sea level. Due to the cold subarctic climate of the area, it always freezes over for several months of the year in spite of its depth.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Hornavan (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Åsnen (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈôːsnɛn]) is a large lake in southern Småland, Sweden, roughly 150 km2 in size. The river Mörrumsån flows south from Åsnen into the Baltic Sea. The lake lies south of Alvesta and Växjö and northwest of Tingsryd and is the third-largest lake in Småland, after Vättern and Bolmen. Approximately 19 km2 of the lake's area is occupied by small islands. Åsnen has many small bays and islands, the largest of which is Sirkön. The lake has been designated as a Ramsar site since 1989. The lake is home to Åsnen National Park, established in 2018.

Fruit (mainly apples and strawberries) is grown in the southern parts of the surrounding area, including on Sirkön.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Åsnen (CC BY-SA 4.0).