Level of difficulty 2 |  Gastronomy 1 |  Length 7.8 km |  Time 2 – 2.5 hours

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Carinthia's longest reservoir is primarily a fishing paradise, but stand-up paddlers are also quickly enchanted by the relaxing ambience. Small islands and dense forests allow paddlers to enjoy forest bathing on the water, so to speak.

General information

• KärntenCard
• Southern Carinthia tourist information
• Völkermarkt Reservoir Wikipedia
• Climate
• Wind, waves, weather

Navigation rules

Along the tour you paddle entirely without any significant infrastructure. Treat the habitat of animals and plants with respect and take any rubbish with you! Don't get in the way of the fishermen and get out of the way of their lines early enough! Give priority to boats!

Dangers and risks

There are slipways at both harbors which are ideal for landing or boarding. However, caution is advised due to the risk of slipping.

Fishing lines and fishing boats are part of everyday life on the reservoir. Always keep an eye out for both!

Occasional driftwood could get stuck on the fins and act as a brake, but it is very unlikely.

Directions

To the rest area at the reservoir bridge: Coming from the east or west, take the A2 southern motorway exit at Völkermarkt West and take the Packerstraße/B70 road 3.4 km east towards the small town of Völkermarkt. At the junction to Völkermarkt, however, you drive straight ahead through the tunnel and are now on the B82. Follow it through the tunnel and along a sharp right-hand bend to the rest area by the reservoir bridge. The rest area branches off to the right shortly before the reservoir bridge and offers some public parking spaces.

To the Dullach/Edling boat harbor: Coming from the east or west, take the A2 southern motorway exit at Völkermarkt West and take the Packerstraße/B70 road 3.4 km east towards the small town of Völkermarkt. At the junction to Völkermarkt, turn left and continue straight through the small town. After 5 km, turn right twice in a row at Dürrenmoos (towards Bleiburg, Lavamünd) and follow the road for 5.8 km to the south. 280 m after the campsite by the reservoir, a small and inconspicuous path leads down to the right and to the boat harbor.

Getting to both spots via public transport is impractical as both fishing ports are not served and long walks are therefore to be expected.

Parking

At the small harbor by the Völkermarkt Reservoir bridge (Völkermartker Stauseebrücke) there are only a few public parking spaces, behind which lies the area of the fishing port. If everything is parked up front, please ask the fishermen if you can park your car in their area as an exception. In our experience, there shouldn't be any difficulties getting a nod.

The harbor in Dullach has more free parking spaces, but it can be easy to miss. The narrow road to the harbor is signposted, but it's easy to drive past if you don't know the area.

Swimming

The reservoir is not a typical bathing lake, but the water on the river in the area of the reservoir is relatively warm and measures up to 25° C in summer. You can still find reasonably pleasant water temperatures even in October, when late summer was warm. If you really want to get into the water from your SUP or from the shore, you should still be careful and swim away from possible boats and fishing lines.

If that's not convincing, then you can switch to a lot of great swimming lakes south of the reservoir. Lake Klopeinesee, for example, is one of the warmest swimming lakes in the country and is a true holiday paradise in summer. Around it there are also the lakes Turnersee, Sonnegger See and Gösselsdorfer See.

Tour

From the harbor at the Völkermarkter reservoir bridge to the Dullach boat harbor near Edling close to the Edling power plant.

Length

7.8 km

Time

2 – 2.5 hours

Start and landing

Start: At the harbor at the Völkermark reservoir bridge.

Landing: At the harbor in Dullach near the power plant.

SUP rental

Draupaddelweg
Dahlienweg 14, 9161 Maria Rain
Phone +43 (0)463 2032 30100

Forest bathing on the water

The Völkermarkt Reservoir is a popular destination in Lower Carinthia, especially for fishermen, but it also is an excellent paddling area even in autumn. The history of the reservoir began at the beginning of the 1960s, when the Drava River was dammed to build a power plant. Since then, the over 20 km long artificial lake has been one of the three largest lakes in the state and is not only considered an extensive local recreation area. In addition to fishermen - due to its biodiversity - ornithologists have also discovered the region for themselves. The local rowing sports center also made the lake known as a water sports area because their athletes find optimal training conditions here on the calm water.

The conditions - more precisely the weather conditions - are also the reason why we tackle this tour from the main basin to the eastern basin ahead of its time. The possibly last late-summer-like October days of the year are likely to end tomorrow with heavy rain, and so we decide to clear out our busy schedule in order to set sail a day earlier than planned. As a paddler you just have to set priorities!

Of course you can easily complete the eastern part of the reservoir in a circular route, but we opt for a one-way trip from the Völkermarkt Reservoir bridge to the end of the lake at the small Dullach boat harbor near the dam. It's easy to shuttle with two cars, especially since both ends of this tour also offer free parking. If all lots at the Völkermarkt reservoir bridge are occupied, simply ask the local fishermen if you can park your car on their turf - this was possible for us without any problems.

The first view over the water stops at the bridge, which somehow looks completely different than other bridges in this country. Childhood memories of Florida's bridges to Key West flash through my mind. It's a bit far-fetched, but you can't deny a certain similarity to this relatively low-lying bridge over the Drava River.

There is a flat access to the water at the slipway, but it's best to get into the water next to the ramp to avoid slipping. Since the northern side of the reservoir is filled up in some places, we paddle under the bridge towards the south bank. Here there is no longer any risk of getting stuck in the clay, like old trees that sometimes stay flat in the water for months because branches have gotten caught in the shallow ground. There is no current to be expected here, and any waves from small motorboats can be ignored with a smirk.

Paddlers rarely come here all year round, either because they don't know that it's comfortable to paddle here or because they respect the slightly cooler river water. To be fair, even in October the temperature can still reach an estimated 17°C if summer takes a nice extra turn. In addition, the entire reservoir is relatively protected from the wind and therefore easy to paddle even for SUP beginners.

On the wooded southern bank you can immediately smell the woody forest air and enjoy the view up to the small town of Völkermarkt. Although there are many small harbors and boat launches along the entire reservoir, the water is by no means overrun with boats. The gentle wakes of the fishing boats that occasionally leisurely pass by are also a nice change from what feels like still water. We only meet one canoeist along our tour. As I said – even in summer there are hardly any paddlers here.

This is good for us and probably also good for the flora and fauna. Fishermen can expect to catch up to thirty fish per hectare of water, which is quite impressive. What really impresses us, however, is the isolation that you can enjoy here. Things get quieter, especially after about 1.5 km, when you paddle around the bend of the main basin to the right and towards the eastern basin.

Here the forests on both banks reach down to the water and small islands invite you to land. While the October sun provides an orange color filter to the afternoon and thus also to nature, I marvel at the trees that were uprooted like toothpicks during a storm in August. Even months later, the power of nature can be seen everywhere on the banks, as they have been littered with tree trunks lying across them or have been reduced to partly bare slopes. It is precisely because of this wildness that the landscape around the reservoir is so interesting and not at all depressing. After all, nature always finds a way to renew itself if humans don't arrogantly interfere.

Relics of the storm in question keep floating in the water, so we have to avoid the driftwood every now and then. There is even a bench on one of the islands and, despite its steep terrain, it can be easily climbed from the south. We accept this offer and treat ourselves to a break with a view over the lake, which leads into its eastern basin on the left in front of us. On the way there we meet a few fishing boats that are probably chugging back to home base after a good catch.

The weather report seems to be accurate, because more and more clouds are moving into the country from the west and so we paddle the last few kilometers through the eastern basin to the harbor near Dullach under relatively gray skies. Although we are approaching the power plant, there is no current to be felt here and so a little later we glide relaxed to the bank where our shuttle car is already waitng.

This extremely entertaining tour may end the warm paddling season and leaves us wanting more. Of course, we also have to explore the reservoir to the west. But that probably won't happen until next year. First we enjoy our beer at the harbor and with interest follow the small talk of the fishermen at the next table.

Alternatives: If you haven't had enough yet, you can get back on the river behind the Edling power plant and continue paddling another 16 km to the next power plant or even to Lavamünd before the Slovenian border. A large part of this section has already been featured on SUP Atlas. A circuit back to the reservoir bridge can also be easily completed due to the lack of current. In that case expect twice the distance and paddling time.

You can find many other SUP tours on Carinthian lakes in the SUP Guide Carinthia.