Lake Landro

Level of difficulty 1 |  Gastronomy 1 |  Length 1.3 km |  Time 30 minutes

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Although Lake Landro is quite inconspicuous as a SUP area, it does offer some interesting characteristics. You paddle between steep mountain slopes on an oversized pond with water only chest-high but surprisingly warm.

General information

• Dolomites Guest Cards
• South Tyrol Guest Pass
• Lake Landro tourist information
• Lake Landro Wikipedia
• Tour Video
• Climate
• Wind, waves, weather

Navigation rules

The lake is located in the middle of a Natura 2000 area and its surroundings offer breeding and nesting sites for many, sometimes rare, water birds. In addition, one of only a few wetlands in South Tyrol is located in the south of the lake. Paddlers are therefore required not to make noise, not to leave any rubbish behind and not to enter the wetlands. Bathers also have priority.

Dangers and risks

The road SS51 runs along the western shore, and cars whiz past at high speed. Always keep an eye on the traffic when getting out and unloading your SUP! Countless cyclists also cross your path on the way to the water - so be careful!

The clay soil is extremely hard, slick and slippery. There is a high risk of slipping and potentially getting hurt. The large and popular beach in the north of the lake is therefore not particularly suitable for starting and ending this tour. Safer alternatives can be found on the east and west shore, where there are more pebbles and the ground is sometimes softer.

The west bank along the road is the deepest. All the other banks are very shallow and you get stuck with your fins just meters before you reach the beach. If you don't know this, you'll be catapulted forward and could injure yourself. It's even worse if you slip on the slippery ground after the fall.

If you get off the board in between, you'll usually have a firm footing under your feet even in the middle of the small lake. However, as already mentioned, the clay is very slippery and sticks easily to your feet. If you then get back on the SUP, you can easily slip on board while paddling due to the clay. So wash your feet thoroughly before you start paddling again!

Navigating the lake depends very much on the water level. If you're unlucky, it'll be so low that the lake loses almost half of its surface area.

There are sometimes fishermen on the bank, get out of the way early enough!

Directions

The town of Toblach (Italian: Dobbiaco) is the end and starting point of the SS51, a northern Italian state road. Lake Landro is also located by this road and is therefore easily accessible by car from north and south.

Bus line 445 takes you to the lake from the north (Toblach aka Dobiacco) and the south (Cortina d’Ampezzo). The bus stops are on the western shore of the lake.

Parking

There is a paid parking lot along the western shore (2 €/hour - as of 2024) which is full on nice days during the high season, but finding a parking space is not nearly as time-consuming as at the neighboring Lake Misurina. There is a constant coming and going.

To the south there are a few free parking spaces on the side of the road. Here you can usually find a parking space on the road shoulder and walk about 300 m to the lake.

Swimming

Although the lake is at an altitude of over 1,400 m above sea level, it is relatively warm, as it has only a few inflows and no significant outflow. The large beach in the north should be avoided, as the clay bottom is so smooth and slippery in places that it is truly dangerous to walk on it. The pebble beach on the east bank is more advantageous, or you can take the various water accesses on the west bank.

In addition to Lake Landro, Lake Misurina and Lake Dobbiaco also offer refreshing bathing fun in the surrounding area.

Furthermore, the Acquafun Experience Pool in Innichen (San Candido) offers bathing options for the cold season.

Around the lake along the shore.

Length

1.3 km

Time

30 minutes

Start and landing

At the southwest corner of the lake.

SUP rental

None

Small paddling with a big backdrop

The small Lake Landro (aka Lago di Landro or Dürrensee) stretches out almost inconspicuously in the natural paradise of the Valle di Landro Valley and lies in the border area between the two nature parks called Tre Cime/Three Peaks and Fanes-Senes-Braies. Although the water surface is very small and not always large enough to SUP, the gently shimmering green water is too much of an eye-catcher for stand-up paddlers to just pass by.

As I am travelling by car from the south, I find a free parking space on the roadside 300 m from the lake. Parking is free here, but you pay for the parking spaces directly by the shore. So I park my car right on the side of the road and check if the other vehicles have a parking ticket on their windshield. Everyone is clean, so I confidently take my board off the roof of the car and get my SUP equipment ready.

Parallel to the road there is a cycle path running through the entire region, which is very busy in summer. In winter, however, cross-country skiers spread out here. It is still August and nice and warm, which is why I am looking forward to a little refreshment in the lake. Surprisingly, it turns out to be quite warm, because although it has a few small inflows from the surrounding mountains, it does not have a large outflow.

So the water builds up here and warms up well. I am also lucky to find the water level almost at its maximum. This means the paddling area is larger and the lake is a bit deeper than at other times. But you shouldn't expect it to be more than three meters deep at any time.

Out of impatience, I get on my board at the first possible water access point in the south-west corner of the lake, which later turns out to be a stroke of luck. Here you're knee-deep in water and can start paddling straight away, which wouldn't be possible on the large beach in the north. It's extremely shallow there and the bottom is so slippery that wading into the lake can be really dangerous. But before I start, I treat myself to a few raspberries growing here on the shore.

My gaze is immediately directed upwards, where I can admire Mt. Monte Piana in the east, the Monte Specie in the west and the mountains of the Cristallo Group in the south. Although I am already on a 1400 m high mountain lake, the rocks are steep and high on all sides. Even though the Dolomites have mainly small paddling areas, they make up for lack of size with their impressive mountain views.

The small lake, which is more like a large pond, is very busy on the west side of the road and on the north bank, and I am relieved to see other stand-up paddlers on the water. So it seems to be permitted to push your SUP across the turquoise-green water. There are no prohibition signs like those on nearby Lake Dobbiaco. Unfortunately, the clouds have not heeded the weather forecast, as they too are beginning to move over the lake, depriving me of an unrestricted bright sunny ambience.

Nevertheless, I glide to the north bank, where small bushes grow out of the water like mangroves. Nothing like getting into this little water jungle and checking if my fin gets stuck. Thanks to the water level, I can paddle quite far towards the bank, but then I inevitably get stuck.

So I turn around and paddle gently past the north beach, where there are definitely the most people. Children slide along the beach and into the water as if they were on ice skates, other people have set up their little day camp. I quickly notice that you should keep more distance from the shore here, because I have to get off to pull my SUP out of the clay. I almost slip on the extremely slippery and hard clay bottom. This is really only for sure-footed and well-coordinated people, because you can fall very quickly and awkwardly.

Back on board, I wash my feet carefully so I don't slip on my SUP. The eastern shore only offers me very little navigable water, because I soon reach a shallow area again, where I have to turn off to the middle of the lake with a view of the Cristallo Mountains rising three kilometers in front of me. Before me, someone is wading and pushing his SUP, the water is only up to his thighs. To be on the safe side, I leave my sweet spot and position myself further forward on the nose so I don't get stuck again.

I can't get enough of the south shore with its reed and wetland zone and the mountain massifs behind it, which rise to 3000 m above sea level. The swans in front of me are not impressed by this sight at all, as they get to enjoy such views every day anyway.

Unfortunately, I am already drifting back to the end point of this truly short paddling trip and look back at the lake again. Of course, I'll take the lasting impressions home with me, because they will certainly nourish me until my next visit to this region. Long live the mountains, because you can also paddle well between them!