Visitors to Lake des Brenets on the Swiss-French border were once greeted by turquoise water, green hillsides and peaceful boat trips between its banks, a landscape that made the lake a popular tourist destination and a fixture on travelers’ Instagram feeds. This summer, the view has changed almost beyond recognition.
Months of unusually low rainfall and three consecutive heat waves across central Europe have caused the water level in the Doubs River, which feeds the lake and forms part of the border between Switzerland and France, to fall sharply. Lake des Brenets has now almost completely emptied, and navigation has been impossible for more than a week.
The lake, considered one of the region’s most scenic natural attractions, normally draws thousands of tourists, swimmers and canoeists each summer. Three cruise companies operate sightseeing trips during the season, but all services have now been suspended.
Dozens of boats have been left stranded on the cracked lakebed, including the “Jumbo,” a tourist vessel normally used for lake cruises. "It's hitting us hard because we're powerless in the face of this phenomenon," owner Yvan Durig told Reuters.
Durig said he had already been forced to place his employees on unpaid leave and feared the year would end in losses. The lake’s water level is now more than nine meters (nearly 30 feet), below average and continues to fall by about 22 centimeters (nearly 9 inches) a day.
Fears the year will end in losses
(Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP)
A French flag flies from a cliff above Lake des Brenets
(Photo: Denis Balibouse / Reuters)
According to Switzerland’s national weather service, MeteoSwiss, the region has received only about half its normal rainfall since April. The agency said the current dry spell ranks among Switzerland’s most severe, comparable with major droughts in 1976, 2003 and 2018. The outlook offers little relief. Below-average rainfall is expected in the region until at least mid-August.
Durig said Lake des Brenets had experienced dry periods before, but they had become increasingly frequent in recent years. "These droughts are occurring in rapid succession, something we've never seen before," he said.
Brenets Lake in 2010
(Photo: Dariya92300/Shutterstock)
The lake about six years ago
The lake in june 2023
January 2024
May 2024
Saut du Doubs waterfall, seen from the French side of the Jura region in August 2021
(Photo: El Paco 33/Shutterstock)
Only a narrow strip of murky water now remains in the center of the lake, where fish have been crowded together alongside several swans still swimming in the area.
The nearby Saut du Doubs waterfall, another of the region’s best-known attractions, has also almost completely dried up. “It’s so beautiful when there’s water, when it’s flowing", Martial Beyeler, a 69-year-old resident, told Reuters. "It’s an idyllic, wonderful place. It makes me sad to see the place like this.”