The lake catalogue
HydroLAKES supplies lake boundaries and physical facts. It covers lakes with a surface area of at least 10 hectares, so smaller swimming spots can be missing. Each lake’s page identifies its actual source and source record.
HydroLAKES attribution: Messager, M. L., Lehner, B., Grill, G., Nedeva, I. & Schmitt, O. (2016). Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach. Nature Communications, 7, 13603. Dataset distributed under CC BY 4.0; consult the source release for details.
Names and Polish geographic data
GeoNames supplies geographically matched lake names under CC BY 4.0; Wikidata structured names are CC0. Names supplement existing lake identities and do not establish a personal review.
Polish names use GUGiK’s Państwowy Rejestr Nazw Geograficznych (PRNG), export dated 18 September 2026. PRNG and BDOT10k are Polish public geodetic data, reused under the government’s published reuse terms with source and version retained. The BDOT10k Pisz county pilot remains staged for identity review; it has not added lake records.
Historical environmental context
LakeATLAS v1.0, distributed under CC BY 4.0, supplies environmental observations joined by HydroLAKES ID. Attribution: Lehner et al. (2022), Scientific Data. Underlying sources include EarthEnv-DEM90 (2000–2010 terrain), GLC2000 (2000 forest cover), and WorldClim v1.4 (1950–2000 climate normals). WorldClim’s original CC BY-SA 4.0 and the HydroATLAS CC BY 4.0 distribution statements are retained with the observations. These describe historical conditions, including air temperature; they are not current water temperature or swimming-safety measurements. No Copernicus measurements are included.
Maps and nearby places
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence. Basemap provided by OpenFreeMap, rendered with MapLibre. Geographical proximity does not establish legal or practical access to a shoreline.
French camping records come from DATAtourisme and the contributing tourism offices under Licence Ouverte 2.0. This edition covers matched records in Brittany and Corsica only: 119 camping places associated with 58 lakes within 5 km. It is not comprehensive French coverage; record dates do not establish present opening or shore access.
Sourced photographs
Catalogue photographs sourced from Wikimedia Commons are separate from Artur’s photographs and reviews. Each displayed image identifies its creator, original Commons page, exact licence and changes. Resized JPEG versions retain the source image’s applicable licence; follow the per-image licence link for reuse terms. An image’s presence does not imply that Artur has visited or reviewed the lake.
Swimming observations
European Environment Agency bathing-water data can add specific monitoring-site observations. Records are shown only when imported and matched. Missing evidence means unknown, not unsuitable. Check local notices before swimming.
Park4Night references
Park4Night links can be submitted as external references. We do not copy its reviews, ratings, photographs, or catalogue. Open a linked entry to see the information at its source.
This edition
OpenStreetMap camping enrichment covers Austria, Poland and Slovenia: 3,162 unique campsite records associated with 2,039 lakes within 5 km of shore. French DATAtourisme coverage is limited to the Brittany and Corsica matches described above; other countries have unknown camping coverage. Bathing observations cover the 2025 monitoring season, with 4,244 matched lake-site observations.
The geographic boundary includes Natural Earth’s European countries plus Cyprus, clipped at 60°E. European Turkey and the Caucasus are not included in this edition; the eastern cutoff is an approximation.
Download and reuse
Download manifest for the derived catalogue lists the NDJSON files and their SHA-256 checksums. These files contain source facts, provenance and the OSM-derived campsite associations used here. The OSM-derived database is offered under ODbL 1.0; HydroLAKES, GeoNames and LakeATLAS fields retain their CC BY 4.0 attributions; PRNG and DATAtourisme fields retain their respective source and reuse terms. Image licences are specified individually on lake pages. Personal editorial content is separate.
Build coverage: 109,541 records · 43 country codes.
Absent campsite entries, scores, or swimming records indicate a gap in the current data. They are never treated as a zero-star experience or a claim that no facilities exist.