Faaker See

The Faaker See near Villach is known for its especially intense turquoise blue, which earns it the nickname of Caribbean flair. Before the south shore rises the striking Mittagskogel of the Karawanks. A small island in the lake and well-kept lidos make it a popular summer destination.

Highlights

• Intense turquoise-blue water
• Mittagskogel of the Karawanks as a backdrop
• Small island in the lake
• Family-friendly lidos

Good to know

Practical info

Background & History

The Faaker See lies in the south of Carinthia, embedded in a gentle hilly landscape over which the striking cone of the Mittagskogel keeps watch. Its water is of a luminous turquoise that gives it an almost Mediterranean character, and indeed this area is among the warmest bathing places in the Alps. Like many Carinthian lakes, it owes its origin to the last Ice Age, when retreating glaciers left behind hollows and basins that later filled with water. A small island in the lake reinforces the impression of a quiet idyll resting within itself.

The region has always been a borderland in which German and Slovenian linguistic heritage meet, something that still echoes in place and field names today. For centuries the people here lived from agriculture and fishing, before summer tourism discovered the shores in the 20th century. The view across the water onto the nearby Karawanken, the natural border with Slovenia, gives the Faaker See a special depth: it lies at that seam where the alpine region gradually passes into the south and where both climate and culture become softer and more cheerful. The region is also known for a large annual motorcycle gathering, which in recent decades brought many thousands of visitors to the shores and gives the quiet idyll a quite different face for a few days each year. For the rest of the summer, however, it is shaped by the calm beauty of a lake whose turquoise recalls southern bays.