Lago di Braies (Pragser Wildsee): Dolomites Lake Guide and Photos

Lago di Braies, or Pragser Wildsee in German, is the lake that made the Prags Dolomites famous. It lies at 1,494 metres in a side valley of South Tyrol, Italy, under the pale limestone wall of the Seekofel (Croda del Becco, 2,810 m), and its water shifts from glassy clear at the shore to turquoise and deep green farther out.

Lago di Braies: size, depth and how it formed

The lake is a natural barrage lake. A landslide from the Herrstein dammed the Prags stream, and the water backed up behind it into the basin you see today. It is about 1.2 km long and 300 to 400 m wide, covering roughly 31 hectares.

• Elevation: 1,494 m above sea level
• Maximum depth: 36 m (average about 17 m), one of the deepest lakes in the province of Bolzano
• Water temperature: rarely above 14 °C, even in high summer
• Protected area: Fanes-Sennes-Prags Nature Park

The Seekofel and neighbouring Dolomite peaks close the lake on three sides. That steep bowl keeps the water calm on still mornings, which is when the famous mirror reflections appear.

History: the grand hotel, the war and a TV series

Tourism at the lake goes back to the late 19th century. The Grandhotel Pragser Wildsee opened on the shore in 1899, designed by architect Otto Schmid for Eduard Hellenstainer and his mother Emma Hellenstainer. A small chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary followed in 1904, also to Schmid’s plans.

In the last days of the Second World War, in April 1945, a transport of prominent concentration camp prisoners held as hostages by the SS was brought to the Prags valley and the lake. Their story was the subject of a Rai Storia documentary in 2016.

A gentler chapter began in 2010, when the Italian TV series Un passo dal cielo started filming on the shore. Broadcast on Rai 1 since 2011, it made the lake a household name in Italy and helped turn it into one of the most photographed places in the Alps.

Walking the lake circuit and renting a boat

A path runs all the way round the lake, and walking it is the classic afternoon outing for locals and visitors. The west shore is flat and wide; the east shore is steeper and narrower, with stairways. The circuit is usually open from May until early or mid-November, depending on the weather. In winter only one side stays open, because of avalanche danger on the slopes above.

The lake is also the starting point of the Alta Via 1, the “classic” Dolomites high route, which runs south for several days to Belluno at the foot of the Schiara group.

Wooden rowing boats are rented from the boathouse in summer. Rentals are mostly first come, first served, and sunrise trips can be reserved online. Private boats and stand-up paddleboards are not allowed on the lake.

Getting there and summer access rules

The lake is reached from the north through the Prags valley (Pragser Tal / Valle di Braies), which branches off the Puster valley between Welsberg/Monguelfo and Niederdorf/Villabassa. The nearest larger town is Toblach/Dobbiaco.

Visitor numbers are huge: about 1.2 million people came between July and September 2018, with peaks of more than 17,000 in a single August day. The valley now regulates traffic in high summer. In 2026 the road was restricted from 1 July to 15 September between 9:00 and 16:00, when only walkers, cyclists, buses and drivers with an online booking (a combined parking and transit ticket) could enter.

Without a car, take bus line 442 from Toblach and Niederdorf, or line 439 from Welsberg station in high season; during the regulated period these seats are booked and paid online. For a quiet lake, arrive early in the morning or come after mid-September, when the restrictions end. Check the official Pragser Tal / Braies access information for your dates.

Snow usually arrives in the valley in early December, and the lake can freeze in deep winter. Winter tyres or chains are compulsory on snowy roads, and walking on the frozen lake is forbidden.

For a different Italian Alpine landscape, explore Gran Paradiso’s lakes and wildlife. For autumn colour in the French Alps, see Thomas Tourral’s Clarée Valley collection, and for a high-altitude lake in India, Chandratal in the high Himalayas.

Related reading

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• Hallstatt: Lake Views, Salt History and a Living Village
• Schlegeis Reservoir: Mountain Views and Alpine Engineering
• The Barn in Going am Wilden Kaiser: Timber, Concrete and Alpine Views
• Arlberg, Austria: Skiing Heritage and Alpine Village Landscapes

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