Mountain lakes with turquoise water

After a climb through the forest, the path opens onto a basin of clear water ringed by peaks, so calm that it reflects the sky upside down. High-altitude glacial lakes, a deep-blue crater lake, the turquoise reservoir of the Verdon: each has its own colour and character.

Eleven mountain lakes, from the Vosges to the Southern Alps, most of them at the end of a half-day hike. Swimming sometimes possible in midsummer, a panorama guaranteed all year round.