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Bavaria is blessed with a slew of natural lakes which is just as well, considering the numbers of bodies that descend on them when temperatures nudge up towards 30 degrees. The nearest lakes to the city are situated in a region called the Fünfseenland, Five Lakes Country. This is South Germany’s answer to the England’s Lake District but without all the rain and blustery wind. If you count all the small lakes, there are actually a whole lot more, but the only ones which you can reach by S-Bahn from Munich are the Ammersee and Starnberger See.

The Starnberger See, 21km long and 5km wide, is the second largest lake in Bavaria (Chiemsee is bigger but much further from Munich). S-Bahn S6 from Munich stops at Starnberg and end-of-line Tutzing. The travel time to trippy little Starnberg is about 40 minutes.

Second home to many moneyed Münchners, the lake’s namesake town’s a bit of a disappointment if you’re expecting some quaint place. Luckily there are plenty of ferries to whisk you quickly away – the water is literally on the other side of the train tracks. Just look out for signs to the Weiß-Blaue Flotte boats which ply the lake (tel. 08652 96 360, www.bayerische-seenschifffahrt.de). A complete round trip stopping at all the little villages en route takes around three hours, and there are various theme tours and a special brunch excursion on Sundays. Commentaries are sadly not in English, but if you understand a bit of German, you might enjoy the historical tour, which goes on the trail of King Ludwig II.

Best known for his fairytale castles, Bavaria’s madcap monarch Ludwig II had a castle at nearby Berg and a soft spot for the area. That is until he met his maker here in 1886 under very suspicious circumstances. Ludwig and his physician, Doctor Gudden, were found floating in knee-deep water just three days after he was declared legally insane. Officially he drowned, which is a bit absurd considering Lake Sternberg is about as rough as a glass of lemonade. Did he commit suicide or was he helped? Prince Luitpold, his successor, certainly had good reason to see him go, but to this day the incident remains cloaked in mystery. Ludwig’s last residence, Schloß Berg, is still owned by Bavaria’s former rulers, the house of Wittelsbach. Although you can’t go inside, you can wander through the former grounds of the castle, which have been turned into a public park.

Water temperatures average between 20 and 24 degrees and there are plenty places to swim. Some spots even have changing cabins and showers (look out for the Strandbad sign) although you’ll have to pay for these facilities. A good many beaches have huts which rent sailing, rowing and paddle boats from around €5 an hour - worth it just to escape the crowds along the shore. And whilst a village called Pöcking-Possenhofen might make grandmother blush, there’s some great water-skiing to be had there.

Another great way to tour the lake is from a bicycle saddle. See how much of the 50km circular track round the lake you can cover before hopping onto the ferry back to Starnberg. A nice stretch, for instance, is the 20km path to the Museum of Fantasy at Bernried. You can rent cycles from friendly Frau Sterzenbach (Bike it, Maximilianstr. 4, tel. 08151 74 64 30; €15/day, €10 half-day) close to the station at Starnberg.

If Starnberger See is the royal lake, neighbouring Ammersee is its rustic counterpart. It’s just 45 minutes by S-Bahn S5 from Munich to Herrsching, a popular little turn-of-the-century spa town. Unlike Starnberg, Herrsching has loads of culturally interesting places and even if you visit nothing else, pop into the Kurparkschlössl, a fairy-tale villa set in a spa park.

A good place for swimming at Ammersee is the Freizeitgelände (leisure grounds) just outside Utting. There’s a café, a gorgeous beer garden with both beautiful brew and view and a sailing school which hires rather tatty but perfectly sailable boats (Segelschule Ernst, tel. 0880 67661, €10/hour). Like its big brother, the 47km2 lake is great for boarding a scheduled ship (same contact details as Starnbergersee) and just chugging along from stop to stop. The round-trip on the Diessen, an old-fashioned paddle steamer, takes about three hours. Alternatively, if you’ve reason to celebrate big time, you can charter one of the old-timer ships.

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