Lake Starnberg
Aerial view of Lake Starnberg from the south
Lake Starnberg Show map of Germany Lake Starnberg Show map of Bavaria
Location	Bavaria
Coordinates	47°54′14″N 11°18′26″E / 47.90389°N 11.30722°E / 47.90389; 11.30722
Type	Natural lake
Primary inflows	Steinbach or Ostersee-Ach
Primary outflows	Würm
Catchment area	314 km2 (121 sq mi)
Basin countries	Germany
Max. length	20.2 km (12.6 mi)
Surface area	58.36 km2 (22.53 sq mi)
Max. depth	127.8 m (419 ft)
Water volume	2,998×10^6 m3 (105.9×10^9 cu ft)
Residence time	21 years
Surface elevation	596 m (1,955 ft)
Islands	Roseninsel
Settlements	Starnberg, Ammerland, Seeshaupt, Tutzing, Feldafing, Possenhofen
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Starnberger See
Designated	26 February 1976
Reference no.	94[1]

Lake Starnberg, or Starnberger See [ˈʃtaʁnbɛʁɡɐ ˌzeː] ^ⓘ) — called Lake Würm or Würmsee [ˈvʏʁmˌzeː] until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area.^[2] It and its surroundings lie in three different Bavarian districts, or Landkreise. The lake is property of the state and accordingly managed by the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes.

Located in southern Bavaria 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwest of Munich, Lake Starnberg is a popular recreation area for the city and, since 1976, one of the wetlands of international importance protected by the Ramsar Convention. The small town of Berg is famous as the site where King Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead in the lake in 1886. Because of its associations with the Wittelsbach royal family, the lake is also known as Fürstensee (Prince's Lake). It is also mentioned in T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land.

The lake, lying in a zungenbecken or glacial hollow, was created by ice age glaciers from the Alps, and extends 21 km (13 mi) from north to south and has a width of 3–5 km (2-3.5 miles) from east to west. It has a single small island, the Roseninsel, and a single outlet, the Würm river (because of this river the lake was called the Würmsee until 1962). Its major inflow comes from a small river called the Steinbach or Ostersee-Ach, which flows through a chain of small lakes to the south, the Osterseen. The lake's water is of excellent quality due to the introduction in the 1960s of a circular sewerage system which collects wastewater from the settlements around the lake and transports it to a treatment plant below the lake's outlet at Starnberg. Bronze fish-hooks and a dugout dating to the 9th or 8th century BCE have been discovered at the lake, and there are still some professional fishers, most of them continuing a family tradition.

Hikers and cyclists can circumnavigate the lake using a path approximately 49 kilometres (30 mi) long. Access to the lake shore is not possible everywhere, since it is mostly private property. Passenger ferries and excursion ships have operated on the lake since 1851. Today they are operated by the Bayerische Seenschifffahrt company, using modern diesel-engined ships.^[3][4]

The earliest surviving mention of the lake, as Uuirmseo, is in an 818 document referring to Holzhausen, now part of Münsing.^[5] This name became Wirmsee, already recorded during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Bavarian (1314–1347).^[6] This name is derived from the Wirm, now spelt Würm, the only river which flows out of the lake, at Starnberg; in the 19th century, the spellings were changed to Würm and Würmsee.

In the late 19th century, a railway connection between Munich and Starnberg made the lake an accessible destination for trips from the city. Trains departed from a wing of the Munich Central Station which was known as the 'Starnberg branch station' (Starnberger Flügelbahnhof) and the lake came increasingly to be known as Lake Starnberg; its name was finally officially changed in 1962.

Clockwise from the north, the following settlements about the lake:

• Starnberg (North, Starnberg district)
• Berg (North East, Starnberg district): including Kempfenhausen, Berg and Leoni
• Münsing (South East, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district): including Ammerland, Ambach, Pischetsrieder and St. Heinrich
• Seeshaupt (South, Weilheim-Schongau district): including Seeseiten
• Bernried (South West, Weilheim-Schongau district)
• Tutzing (West, Starnberg district): including Unterzeismering; Evangelische Akademie Tutzing on the lake
• Feldafing (North West, Starnberg district): including Garatshausen
• Pöcking (North West, Starnberg district): including Possenhofen and Niederpöcking

Off the western shore, south of Possenhofen, is the small Roseninsel (Rose Island), the site of a royal villa of Ludwig II.

Panoramic view of Lake Starnberg looking south between Leoni and Possenhofen

• Martinus Fesq-Martin, Amei Lang and Michael Peters (Eds.). Der Starnberger See—Natur und Vorgeschichte einer bayerischen Landschaft. Munich, 2008. ISBN 978-3-89937-090-4 (in German)
• A. Link. Der Starnberger See und seine Umgebung vom Würmtal bis zum Alpenrand. Gauting-Buchendorf, 1982. ISBN 3-923657-06-4 (in German)
• Susanne Westendorf. Das Starnberger-SeeBuch—eine Tour um den See, kleiner Führer. Munich, 1995. ISBN 3-00-000232-4 (in German)
• Lorenz von Westenrieder. Beschreibung des Wurm- oder Starenbergersees und der umherliegenden Schlösser, samt einer Landkarte. 1783, repr. Dachau: Bayerland, 2006. ISBN 3-89251-367-8 (in German)
• Oskar Weber and Josef Wahl. Am Starnberger See und die Würm entlang. Dachau, 1995. ISBN 3-89251-202-7 (in German)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lake Starnberg.

• Nixdorf, B.; et al. (2004), "Starnberger See", Dokumentation von Zustand und Entwicklung der wichtigsten Seen Deutschlands (in German), Berlin: Umweltbundesamt, p. 75
• Pictures of Lake Starnberg