Largest lakes & reservoirs in by shoreline length
The length of the exterior shoreline around a lake is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. The shoreline length can be considerably shorter or longer when lake water levels are lower or higher than normal. A lake with many coves has a much longer shoreline than a lake of similar surface area that is nearly circular in shape.When known, the shoreline miles that we report in our statistics include only the lake’s exterior shoreline, and exclude the shorelines of islands located within a lake’s boundaries. In lakes with many islands, those islands’ combined shorelines may exceed a lake’s exterior shoreline.
You can find many of the world’s longest-shoreline lakes on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, "Longest Shorelines" data is unknown or does not apply, so this table may display fewer lakes than the total 2151 articles we have published for lakes.
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Below are lakes within Compared by longest shoreline length in miles. This list does not represent all lakes in , only the 2151 lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Shoreline length in miles |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake of the Woods, MN / Canada (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, Minnesota, Northwest Minnesota, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA) |
25,000 mi | Spanning the border from Minnesota into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, Lake of the Woods is an enormous body of water over 68 miles l… |
| Great Salt Lake, UT (Great Salt Lake Country, UT, Ogden & Northwest Region, UT, US West Region, USA, Utah) |
10,000 mi | Also known as America's Dead Sea Sometimes called “America’s Dead Sea,” the Great Salt Lake occupies approximately 1,700 square miles of Utah’s real estate. It is the second largest l… |
| Lake Saimaa, Finland (Finland, Lakeland Region, Finland) |
8,500 mi | Also known as Saimaa Lake, Saimaa Lake District, Saimaa Lake Saimaa, in Finland’s Lakeland Region, is a lake you could spend a lifetime exploring! Nearly 1700 square miles of water and over 13,500 islands m… |
| Lake Nasser, Egypt (Egypt, Upper Egypt Region) |
5,592 mi | Also known as Aswah High Dam Reservoir Lake Nasser, in Egypt’s Upper Region, is a modern technological marvel with ancient roots. In Egypt’s extremely arid climate, the Nile and its annual… |
| Lake Michigan-Huron (Canada, Chicagoland Region, IL, Great Lakes of North America, Illinois, Indiana, Lake Michigan Region, WI, Michigan, North Indiana, Northeast Michigan, Northwest Michigan, Ontario, Canada, Southwest Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, West Central Michigan, Wisconsin) |
5,463 mi | Lake Michigan and Lake Huron – two of North America’s Great Lakes – are contiguous and they share the same elevation of 577 feet above sea level. They… |
| Lake Huron (Canada, East Central Michigan, Great Lakes of North America, Michigan, Northeast Michigan, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI) |
3,825 mi | A glacial lake of epic proportions, Lake Huron is the second largest of the five Great Lakes by surface area, boasting 23,010 square miles and an incr… |
| Bratsk Reservoir, Russia (Eastern Siberia Region, Russia, Russia) |
3,728 mi | It has been said that one of the most striking things about Siberia is the scale. Just the name conjures images of vast snowy expanses, impossibly thi… |
| Gouin Reservoir (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
3,510 mi | Also known as Reservoir Gouin When the directions say ‘turn off the paved road’, you know you’re on your way to Gouin Reservoir. Visitors can drive to the lake, but most opt to fly… |
| Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Northern Caucases Region, Russia, Povolzhsky Region, Russia, Russia, Turkmenistan) |
3,467 mi | Also known as Mazandaran Sea, Khazar Sea, Khvalyn Sea With the largest volume of any saltwater “lake” on earth, the Caspian Sea holds well over 62 billion acre-feet of saltwater. Many classify the Caspian… |
| Caniapiscau Reservoir, QC (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
3,010 mi | Also known as Lake Caniapiscau “The money is not as useful as the land was before we lost it.” -Chisasibi Cree Native About 9,000 years ago, the glaciers receded on the Laurentian P… |
| Lake Volta, Ghana (Ghana, Volta Region, Ghana) |
2,983 mi | Also known as Volta Lake or Volta Reservoir Lake Volta, the world’s fourth largest reservoir, is located in the west African nation of Ghana. Known to locals as Volta Lake, it was built to provi… |
| Reservoir Cabonga (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
2,800 mi | Also known as Cabonga Reservoir, Cabonga Lake A trip to Cabonga Reservoir in Quebec is the true definition of ‘getting away from it all’. The massive reservoir covers 261 square miles, but only 18… |