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Bathing water quality in Hesse, Germany

Hesse has 61 official bathing waters in the EEA dataset for the 2025 season — all lake. 95.1% were classified Excellent — 4.2 points above the 90.9% across Germany — and 0 were Poor. By administrative district, the Excellent share is highest in Darmstadt (100% of 27) and lowest in Gießen (88.2% of 17). 47 sites have been Excellent in every season from 2015 to 2025.

Badegewässerqualität in Hessen

Von 61 offiziellen EU-Badestellen in Hessen waren 2025 95,1 % „ausgezeichnet“; Zahl der als „mangelhaft“ eingestuften Badestellen: 0.

61

official bathing waters

95.1%

Excellent in 2025

0

Poor in 2025

Not live: these are annual official classifications. Check the competent authority for today’s notices before swimming.
Before you swim in Hesse

The federal states (Länder); national overview by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA)

Bathing season in Germany: Set by each federal state. Live results are on the state portals linked from the UBA page; most German bathing waters are lakes.

Annual EEA classes do not show temporary bans, short-term pollution or algae alerts. National information last checked 2026-11-01.

Bathing-water quality (UBA, links to all states) →

Map of official bathing waters in Hesse

Excellent 58Good 3Poor 0
BADESEE BENSHEIM: Excellent (2025)WALDSCHWIMMBAD RUESSELSHEIM: Excellent (2025)BADESEE MAINFLINGEN: Excellent (2025)ULMBACHTALSPERRE: Excellent (2025)BAERENSEE: Excellent (2025)KINZIGSEE: Excellent (2025)TWISTETALSPERRE STRANDBAD WETTERBURG: Excellent (2025)KAERCHER SURFSEE: Excellent (2025)NATURBADESEE BEISEFOERTH: Excellent (2025)ARHEILGER MUEHLCHEN: Excellent (2025)GRUBE PRINZ VON HESSEN: Excellent (2025)FULDASEE BEBRA BREITENBACH: Excellent (2025)HEISTERBERGER WEIHER: Excellent (2025)NIEDERWEIMARER SEE: Excellent (2025)WERRATALSEE OSTUFER: Excellent (2025)ERLENSEE: Excellent (2025)LICHER WALDSCHWIMMBAD: Excellent (2025)BADESEE KLEIN KROTZENBURG: Excellent (2025)DUTENHOFENER BADESEE: Excellent (2025)EDERTALSPERRE STRANDBAD REHBACH: Excellent (2025)CAMPINGPLATZ TEICHMANN VOEHL: Excellent (2025)GEDERNER SEE CAMPINGPARK: Excellent (2025)GUCKAISEE: Excellent (2025)TRAIS HORLOFFER SEE: Excellent (2025)WALDSEE RAUNHEIM: Excellent (2025)KROMBACHTALSPERRE: Excellent (2025)LAUNSBACHER SEE: Excellent (2025)BADESTELLE HATTSTEINWEIHER: Excellent (2025)BUGA SEE: Excellent (2025)WALDSEE MENGERSKIRCHEN: Excellent (2025)STRANDBAD RODENBACH: Excellent (2025)MARBACH STAUSEE: Excellent (2025)DIEMELTALSPERRE STRANDBAD HERINGHAUSEN: Excellent (2025)BADESEE LAMPERTHEIM: Excellent (2025)BADESEE NIEDERNHAUSEN: Excellent (2025)HEUCHELHEIMER SEE II: Excellent (2025)BADESEE GERNSHEIM: Excellent (2025)LANGENER WALDSEE: Excellent (2025)STRANDBAD NIEDER RODEN: Excellent (2025)STAUWEIHER EWERSBACH: Excellent (2025)SEEWEIHER MENGERSKIRCHEN: Excellent (2025)STRANDBAD SPESSARTBLICK: Excellent (2025)NIEDER MOOSER SEE: Excellent (2025)GROSSER WOOG: Excellent (2025)RIEDSEE LEEHEIM: Excellent (2025)SCHWIMMBAD VOGEL GEINSHEIM: Excellent (2025)SEEPARK KIRCHHEIM: Excellent (2025)DIEMELTALSPERRE STRANDBAD HELMINGHAUSEN: Excellent (2025)EDERTALSPERRE STRANDBAD WALDECK: Excellent (2025)WERRATALSEE SUEDUFER: Excellent (2025)BADESTELLE WALLDORFER SEE: Excellent (2025)KOENIGSEE ZELLHAUSEN: Excellent (2025)AARTAL SEE: Excellent (2025)SCHULTHEIS WEIHER: Excellent (2025)STOCKELACHE: Excellent (2025)SILBERSEE FRIELENDORF: Excellent (2025)NEUENHAINER SEE: Excellent (2025)GROSSER PFORDTER SEE: Excellent (2025)WISSMARER SEE: Good (2025)GRUENER SEE: Good (2025)NIDDA STAUSEE: Good (2025)DarmstadtGießenKasselBavariaLower SaxonyNorth Rhine-WestphaliaRhineland-PalatinateThuringia
How to read this map: Each dot is one official bathing water, coloured by its 2025 rating; select a dot to open that site. The white area is this region; neighbouring regions are shaded. Sea and large lakes are blue, neighbouring countries grey. Positions: official EEA coordinates. Boundaries: Eurostat NUTS 2024, generalised (© EuroGeographics); lakes: Natural Earth. Outlines are simplified, so a few shoreline dots can sit just offshore.

Hesse by administrative district

Sites are placed in the Eurostat NUTS 2 administrative districts that contain their reported coordinates.

2025 EEA classes by administrative district
Administrative districtSitesExcellentGoodSufficientPoorNot classified
Darmstadt2727 (100%)0000
Gießen1715 (88.2%)2000
Kassel1716 (94.1%)1000

Most consistent Excellent sites

47 sites were Excellent in all eleven seasons. Ordered by the length of the unbroken Excellent run ending in 2025; the first 24 are shown and every site is in the full list below.

  1. AARTAL SEE 11 seasons · Gießen
  2. BADESEE BENSHEIM 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  3. BADESEE GERNSHEIM 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  4. BADESEE KLEIN KROTZENBURG 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  5. BADESEE LAMPERTHEIM 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  6. BADESEE MAINFLINGEN 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  7. BADESEE NIEDERNHAUSEN 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  8. BADESTELLE HATTSTEINWEIHER 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  9. BADESTELLE WALLDORFER SEE 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  10. BAERENSEE 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  11. CAMPINGPLATZ TEICHMANN VOEHL 11 seasons · Kassel
  12. DIEMELTALSPERRE STRANDBAD HELMINGHAUSEN 11 seasons · Kassel
  13. DIEMELTALSPERRE STRANDBAD HERINGHAUSEN 11 seasons · Kassel
  14. DUTENHOFENER BADESEE 11 seasons · Gießen
  15. EDERTALSPERRE STRANDBAD REHBACH 11 seasons · Kassel
  16. EDERTALSPERRE STRANDBAD WALDECK 11 seasons · Kassel
  17. ERLENSEE 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  18. FULDASEE BEBRA BREITENBACH 11 seasons · Kassel
  19. GROSSER WOOG 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  20. GRUBE PRINZ VON HESSEN 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  21. HEISTERBERGER WEIHER 11 seasons · Gießen
  22. HEUCHELHEIMER SEE II 11 seasons · Gießen
  23. KINZIGSEE 11 seasons · Darmstadt
  24. KOENIGSEE ZELLHAUSEN 11 seasons · Darmstadt

Rated Poor in 2025

None of the 61 official bathing waters in Hesse was classified Poor in 2025.

Changes from 2024 to 2025

Improved (1)

Declined (1)

How Hesse rated since 2015

Counts for the sites in today’s 2025 inventory; the Excellent share is calculated over classified sites only.

SeasonClassifiedExcellentExcellent sharePoor
2025615895.1%0
2024615895.1%0
2023615793.4%0
2022615996.7%0
2021615996.7%0
2020615793.4%0
2019605693.3%0
2018605693.3%0
2017615691.8%1
2016615996.7%0
2015615895.1%0

Places with the most bathing waters in Hesse

Each site is matched to its nearest named place (GeoNames, within 8 km in a straight line), so beaches of one resort or lake shore can be compared together. Select a place to show only its sites in the full list.

Top 8 places by number of official bathing waters
PlaceAdministrative districtSitesExcellentPoor
Allendorf an der LahnGießen22 (100%)0
EschwegeKassel22 (100%)0
GroßkrotzenburgDarmstadt22 (100%)0
KranichsteinDarmstadt22 (100%)0
MengerskirchenGießen22 (100%)0
RaunheimDarmstadt22 (100%)0
SeligenstadtDarmstadt22 (100%)0
WaldeckKassel22 (100%)0

All 61 official bathing waters in Hesse

Grouped by administrative district, alphabetical within each group. Open a site for its 2015–2025 history, nearby alternatives, weather forecast and the national profile link.

Download all 61 sites as CSV (classes 2015–2025, coordinates, nearest place; EEA data, CC BY 4.0)

Darmstadt 27 sites · 100% Excellent
Gießen 17 sites · 88.2% Excellent
Kassel 17 sites · 94.1% Excellent

Compared with other states in Germany

#StateSitesExcellentPoor
1Berlin39100%0
2Brandenburg24995.6%0
3Hesse6195.1%0
4Bavaria37893.1%1
5Thuringia3992.3%0
6Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania29692.2%0
7Baden-Württemberg30890.3%2
8Saxony-Anhalt7290.3%0
9Schleswig-Holstein33089.4%0
10Rhineland-Palatinate6689.4%0
11North Rhine-Westphalia11788%0
12Lower Saxony27387.2%0
13Saxony3281.3%0
14Hamburg1681.3%0

States with at least 15 official bathing waters. Size, water type and how densely sites are designated differ, so the table is context rather than a verdict.

Quick answers

How many bathing waters in Hesse were rated Excellent in 2025?
58 of 61 (95.1%) in the official EEA 2025 classification; 3 were Good, 0 Sufficient and 0 Poor. That ranks Hesse 3 of 14 Germany states by Excellent share.
Which administrative district of Hesse has the highest share of Excellent sites?
Darmstadt: 100% of its 27 sites were Excellent in 2025. Kassel follows with 94.1%. Only administrative districts with at least five sites are compared; see the full table.
Which beaches and lakes in Hesse have the best long-term record?
47 sites were Excellent in every season from 2015 to 2025, for example AARTAL SEE, BADESEE BENSHEIM, BADESEE GERNSHEIM. See the ranking.
Which places in Hesse have the most official bathing waters?
Allendorf an der Lahn (2, 100% Excellent), Eschwege (2, 100% Excellent), Großkrotzenburg (2, 100% Excellent). See the place table; places are the nearest named settlement to each site.
Were any bathing waters in Hesse rated Poor?
No. None was classified Poor in 2025.
Where do I check whether swimming is allowed today?
On Bathing-water quality (UBA, links to all states) (The federal states (Länder); national overview by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA)). Temporary bans, pollution alerts and closures are published there and on signs at the water, not in the annual EEA class.

Germany overview · All states of Germany · Bathing season dates

Sources and method

Bathing-water records: European Environment Agency (EEA), data and coordinates reported by Germany, licensed CC BY 4.0. Region and administrative district boundaries: Eurostat NUTS 2024 (© EuroGeographics for the administrative boundaries). Place names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). A site belongs to the area that contains its reported coordinates; a site up to 10 km off the generalised coastline is placed in the nearest area of Germany. Counts, shares and rankings are calculated by BathingWaterFinder from the official records.