From the Alps to the Pyrenees via Corsica and the Massif Central, France has hundreds of high-altitude lakes, born of glacial erosion or volcanic activity. Turquoise water, reflections of snowy peaks, mineral cirques: this selection brings together ten of the most spectacular mountain lakes in the country, from the famous Lac Blanc facing Mont Blanc to the discreet Lacs de Vens in the Mercantour.
Most have to be earned: allow several hours' walk and a good climb for most of them, but the spectacle at the top amply rewards the effort.
Perched at 2,352 metres in the Aiguilles Rouges massif, Lac Blanc offers one of the most emblematic panoramas of the Alps, facing the Mont Blanc massif.
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In the heart of the Écrins National Park, Lac de la Muzelle is a 9-hectare glacial lake with turquoise water, overlooked by the Roche de la Muzelle.
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At 2,458 metres' altitude facing La Meije, Lac du Goléon is a glacial lake with turquoise water, reached by a sporty hike from Valfroide.
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The largest lake in the Queyras with 8.5 hectares, Lac Sainte-Anne peaks at 2,414 metres at the foot of the Pic Nord de la Font Sancte and shelters a seventeenth-century chapel.
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A string of five glacial lakes between 2,286 and 2,327 metres' altitude in the Mercantour, overlooked by the Vens refuge, in the commune of Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée.
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A developed path climbs through undergrowth to reach the crater carved 20,000 years ago by the ancient glacier.
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The beauty of the cirque entirely occupied by Lac d'Oô explains hikers' enthusiasm for this site.
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Nestled at the foot of the Vignemale, this Pyrenean glacial lake is reached from Cauterets by a hiking path or a chairlift. Its clear waters, framed by steep walls, make it one of the most visited mountain lakes in the French Pyrenees.
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A stone's throw from Corte, two sites of wild beauty: on the one hand the Restonica valley leading to Lac de Melo at an altitude of 1,711 m and on the other the Tavignano gorges, among the most beautiful on the island.
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Due to a powerful volcanic explosion, Lac Pavin is a crater lake carved on the north flank of the Puy de Montchal (1,411 m).
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