Kalterer See

The Kalterer See in the South Tyrolean lowlands is regarded as one of the warmest bathing lakes in the Alps and reaches bathing temperatures in summer that Alpine lakes otherwise rarely offer. It lies in the middle of the wine country on the South Tyrolean Wine Road, surrounded by vines and orchards.

Highlights

• One of the warmest bathing lakes in the Alps
• On the South Tyrolean Wine Road
• Vine and orchard landscape
• Reed belt as a nature reserve

Good to know

Practical info

Background & History

Lake Caldaro in the South Tyrolean Überetsch is regarded as one of the warmest bathing lakes in the Alps, a shallow, sun-drenched body of water lying in the broad valley basin south of Bolzano. Its warmth and the mild, almost Mediterranean climate of the surroundings have always favoured viticulture, and the name Kalterersee stands, beyond the region, for a light red wine made from the Vernatsch grape, inseparably bound up with this landscape. Vineyards, apple orchards and cypresses shape the scene and give the Überetsch a southern air.

Geologically the lake is a remnant of the old Adige, which once flowed through this basin before it shifted its course and left behind a still, reed-fringed body of water that today forms an important refuge for waterfowl. For centuries the area was a meeting place of German and Italian culture, which is still evident today in the bilingualism and in the handsome manor houses of the old landed nobility scattered among the vines. In the surroundings the old Wine Road, one of the oldest of its kind in the Alpine region, recalls the long history of viticulture, which was practised here as early as Roman times. A wine museum in Caldaro preserves the knowledge of this craft and shows how closely the fate of the people was bound up with the grape. Thus Lake Caldaro unites bath-warm water, old wine-growing tradition and the cheerful sense of life of a region on the threshold of the south, where the light often already seems Italian.