Germany – Lake Constance & Bavarian Alpine Lakes

Southern Germany's lake diving centres on two very different waters. Lake Constance (Bodensee), especially the Überlinger See arm, drops along molasse walls to 80–100 m and stays at 4–6 °C below about 10 m, so most sites are serious cold-water dives with sunken boats, cars and pipelines rather than colourful life. In Upper Bavaria, the Walchensee at about 800 m altitude offers clear water, a deep wall at the Galerie and easy training bays, while the Starnberger See, Ammersee and the small Thumsee add a few more shore sites. Diving is strictly regulated: in Bavaria it is allowed only in lakes opened by the district authority, and on Lake Constance the shipping regulation bans diving near harbours and landing stages except at a few named places. Several famous spots – the Königssee, the Teufelstisch and the Blautopf – are closed to recreational divers and are covered here only in the facts. Night dives, seasonal spawning bans and bathing seasons further limit where and when you can dive.

Facts

• Diving permits in Bavaria: In Bavaria, scuba diving is not part of the general public use of waters (Art. 18 BayWG). It is allowed only in lakes that the district authority has opened for diving by ordinance or general order – among them Walchensee, Kochelsee, Sylvensteinsee, Thumsee, Ammersee, Starnberger See, Tegernsee, Schliersee and parts of the Bavarian shore of Lake Constance. Even there, local and seasonal limits apply. (source: naturerlebnis.bayern.de, Bavarian Environment Ministry)
• Diving bans: Königssee and other lakes: The Bavarian lakes administration lists a diving ban for the Königssee, the Großer and Kleiner Alpsee and the Schwansee. The Königssee lies in Berchtesgaden National Park: the park regulation bans craft on its waters and, according to the local police chief, recreational diving falls under the ban too; only the Berchtesgaden Wasserwacht has an exemption for training and rescue. For Chiemsee, Staffelsee and Waginger See there is no general order – a dive needs an individual permit from the district office. Eibsee and Hintersee are not on the official list of lakes opened for diving. (source: schloesser.bayern.de, berchtesgadener-anzeiger.de 9 Sept 2025, naturerlebnis.bayern.de)
• Lake Constance: shipping rules for divers: Under the Lake Constance Shipping Regulation (BSO), diving is banned within 100 m of harbour entrances used by passenger ships and of passenger landing stages outside public bathing areas, and at other harbour entrances if it hinders shipping; marked fairways are also off-limits. When diving from shore, set up a rigid code flag 'A' (white-blue) at the entry; from a boat, show it on the boat or a buoy, visible from all sides and lit at night or in poor visibility. Underwater scooters are banned on and in the lake (Art. 6.15 (7) BSO). (source: bodenseekreis.de, bodensee.de)
• Lake Constance: exemptions in the Bodenseekreis: By general order the Bodenseekreis district office allows diving inside the harbour exclusion zones at four named places: year-round at the Liebesinsel and the Parkhaus Post in Überlingen, and from 31 October to 15 March at the 'Zeughaus' in Überlingen and the Hotel 'Wilder Mann' in Meersburg. The 'A' flag must be set at the entry on land, police instructions must be followed, and the order can be revoked at any time. Check current terms. (source: bodenseekreis.de)
• Teufelstisch: general diving ban: At the Teufelstisch rock needle off Wallhausen (sea mark 22) the Konstanz district office has banned diving since 1979 (amended 1994), within 300 m to the north/north-west and 500 m to the east/south-east. Experienced divers can apply for a paid, two-year individual exemption: medical certificate (max. 2 years old), proof of training and at least 40 dives in the last 12 months, 10 of them in Lake Constance deeper than 20 m. Conditions include buddy diving only, a 40 m depth limit, no scooters and a phone check-in with the water police in Überlingen on the day of the dive. It is listed as an exemption-only site. (source: lrakn.de)
• Bavarian shore of Lake Constance: The lake's tourism board states that diving is not allowed in the Bavarian part of the lake (Nonnenhorn–Lindau), while the Bavarian ministry lists 'parts of the Bavarian Lake Constance' as opened by ordinance of the Lindau district. Ask the Landratsamt Lindau before diving there; no sites on this shore are listed here. (source: bodensee.de, naturerlebnis.bayern.de)
• Walchensee and Kochelsee rules: Diving in Walchensee, Kochelsee and Sylvensteinsee is governed by the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district. Rules published for Walchensee: no night diving (allowed from 1 h before sunrise to 1 h after sunset); no diving at public bathing places such as Urfeld from 1 June to 15 September; seasonal spawning bans from 15 October to 1 February along the B 11 between Dainingsbach and Urfeld and on the south shore from Einsiedl to Niedernach; keep at least 50 m from the power-station intake at Urfeld. No diving near fishing gear, buoy fields and landing stages, no filling cylinders outdoors with compressors, and archaeological finds must be reported. Check current terms. (source: tauchbasis-walchensee.de, taucher.net)
• Starnberger See and Ammersee rules: The Starnberg general order (1994, amended 1997 and 2008) allows diving only outside harbours, ship lines, landing stages, buoy fields and the water-ski area (100 m distance), not at private jetties, and not in mapped protected zones. Further rules: no diving later than 1 h after sunset, no solo dives, full cold-water kit with two separate regulators and a hood, 40 m limit on air (deeper only for certified technical divers), and a seasonal ban from 1 November to 15 March in the char-spawning zone between the district boundary and Ammerland. At the Ammersee the Landsberg district publishes a map of no-dive zones (as of 16 Dec 2020). Check current terms. (source: Landratsamt Starnberg general order via starnbergammersee.de, landkreis-landsberg.de)
• Blautopf (Blaubeuren): The Blautopf karst spring leads into a long cave system and has seen several fatal accidents. The town banned diving in the 1980s; since then permission has been given only to a few organisations such as the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blautopf research team and rescue services. It is not a recreational dive site; it is listed as prohibited in the 'Germany – Mines & Caves' region. (source: en.wikipedia.org, lgrbwissen.lgrb-bw.de)
• Water temperature & thermocline: Lake Constance is deep and cold: in March 2020 the Institute for Lake Research measured about 6 °C from the surface down to 100 m and 4.9 °C just above the lake bed; full winter mixing happens at about 4.5–5 °C today. In summer the lake stratifies, and below roughly 10 m divers usually meet 4–6 °C. Walchensee divers report about 16 °C in the shallows and 5 °C at depth. Use a drysuit and cold-water regulators; the Starnberg order makes them mandatory. (source: igkb.org, seen.de, taucher.net)
• Altitude diving: Walchensee lies at about 800 m above sea level, so the local base reminds divers to plan decompression for a mountain lake. The German diving-medicine society GTÜM explains that air pressure drops by about 0.1 bar per 1000 m and that the drive up to a lake adds to the nitrogen load; use altitude tables or a dive computer with an altitude setting. (source: tauchbasis-walchensee.de, gtuem.org)
• Season: Lake diving here is year-round, but many sites are seasonal: some Lake Constance harbour sites are winter-only (Wilder Mann and Zeughaus 31 Oct–15 Mar; Bodman old harbour is listed by a local operator as a winter site), bathing places close to divers in summer, and spawning bans apply in winter at Walchensee (15 Oct–1 Feb) and Starnberger See (1 Nov–15 Mar). Check current terms. (source: bodenseekreis.de, trimiximbodensee.com, tauchbasis-walchensee.de, starnbergammersee.de)
• Parking & access: There are no entry fees at the public lake sites, but most Lake Constance entries use paid car parks (typically about €0.50–2 per 30–60 min) and some lakeside roads are closed to cars (e.g. the Walchensee shore road to the Pioniertafel; access to some Starnberger See shore sections needs a municipal driving permit). Check current terms. (source: trimiximbodensee.com, tauchbasis-walchensee.de, starnbergammersee.de)
• Archaeology: pile dwellings and wrecks: More than 100 prehistoric pile-dwelling sites are known in the shallows of Lake Constance (70 on the Baden-Württemberg shore), some of them UNESCO World Heritage since 2011, alongside historic harbours, ship and aircraft wrecks. Do not dig, collect or move anything; the Bavarian dive orders require finds to be reported to the State Office for Monuments and left in place. (source: denkmalpflege-bw.de, starnbergammersee.de)
• Emergency: Call 112. For diving accidents, DAN Europe members can also call the DAN Europe international hotline (+39 06 4211 5685 – check the number on your card); the German VDST diving-accident hotline is +49 69 800 88 616. (source: daneurope.org, gtuem.org)
• Recompression chambers: GTÜM chamber list (as of 1 Jan 2025): BG Klinikum Murnau – 24 h emergency centre for diving accidents, no advance notice but announce the patient (emergency +49 8841 48 26 62); Bundeswehrkrankenhaus Ulm – 24 h, 30 min notice (+49 731 17 10 20 55); limited service: Überlingen chamber of the Baden diving federation at Helios Spital Überlingen (+49 7551 947 70 or 112), Druckkammerzentrum Traunstein (via ILS Traunstein +49 861 209 350-0 or 112) and HBO-Zentrum München (weekday hours only). The Munich fire-brigade chamber (Feuerwache 5) closed in October 2023. Check current status. (source: gtuem.org)

Season

• Best months: May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
• Acceptable: Apr, Nov
• Poor: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar
• Water temperature: 4–23 °C

Bavarian alpine lakes (Walchensee, Königssee, Starnberger See): surface is 17–23 C in summer and 3–4 C in January; water is clearest in autumn and winter. Winter ice diving is possible but restricted by local rules. No visibility data found; check with local dive bases.

Dive sites (24)

Upper Bavarian lakes

• Ammersee – Herrsching – beginner
• Königssee (TILOS / no diving) – advanced
• Starnberger See – Allmannshausen – 0–40 m, advanced
• Thumsee – 0–18 m, beginner
• Walchensee – Galerie – 0–120 m, advanced
• Walchensee – Hackl – 0–16 m, beginner
• Walchensee – Pioniertafel – 0–40 m, advanced
• Walchensee – Steinbruch – 0–40 m, intermediate
• Walchensee – Urfeld – 0–35 m, beginner

Lake Constance (Bodensee)

• Bodman – Alter Hafen – 0–22 m, intermediate
• Dingelsdorf – Klausenhorn – 0–110 m, advanced
• Hagnau – Wasserwerk – 0–45 m, intermediate
• Konstanz – Hörnle – 0–25 m, beginner
• Ludwigshafen – Lädine – 0–30 m, intermediate
• Marienschlucht – 0–100 m, advanced
• Meersburg – Krebsgarten – 0–20 m, beginner
• Meersburg – Wilder Mann – 0–80 m, advanced
• Teufelstisch (Wallhausen) – exemption only – advanced
• Wallhausen – Steilwand – 0–80 m, advanced
• Wallhausen – Strandbad – beginner
• Überlingen – Liebesinsel – 0–50 m, advanced
• Überlingen – Post – 0–45 m, advanced
• Überlingen – Seezeichen 24 – 0–100 m, advanced
• Überlingen – Tennisplatz – 0–100 m, intermediate

Operators (3)

• Trimix im Bodensee – dive centre, Unterdorfstrasse 13, CH-8582 Dozwil (Switzerland)
• Tauchschule Meersburg – dive centre, Von-Laßberg-Straße 1, 88709 Meersburg
• Tina's Tauchschule – dive centre, Im Estlikofer 18, 78479 Reichenau (branch at Konstanz-Wallhausen)

Routes (1)

• Guided Lake Constance dives

Diving rules, seasonal bans and parking terms in Bavaria and on Lake Constance change and are enforced; check the current general orders with the district office (Landratsamt) or a local dive centre before you go. Many sites are deep, cold walls – plan gas, thermal protection and decompression accordingly. Positions are for orientation only.