River
Coco River
780 km from source to mouth · Honduras and Nicaragua.
Honduras and NicaraguaFlows into Caribbean Sea1st longest in Honduras
In numbers
Length
780km
Average flow
760m³/s
Basin
24,767km²
Drop
940m
from 940 m to 0 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
780 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmRío Comalíat 940 m
- 5 kmSan Marcos de Colón8,821 people
- 61 kmOcotal33,928 people
- 395 kmSalto Kiuras
- 417 kmCairasa
- 780 kmCaribbean Seaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Major river in Nicaragua and Honduras forming much of the border and emptying into the Caribbean Sea at Cape Gracias a Dios
At the mouth it carries 756 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.3 seconds. It drops from 940 m to 0 m, 1.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 24,767 km², about the size of MK. 874,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July to October; lowest: from February to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- OcotalLargest city on its banks · 33,928 people
- Toncontín Airport (TGU)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 93 km from the cityCar hire at TGU airport (Tegucigalpa)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From February to AprilThe best months to visit
Coco River, month by month
Highest water: from July to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from February to April.
From about 190 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Coco River: the basin in numbers
24,600 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 874,000people live in the basin
- 35/km²people per km²
- 483maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,876mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.8°Caverage air temperature
- 63%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 72% Forest
- 12% Cropland
- 23% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Coco River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsSalto Kiuras
- 1RapidsRapido Lala Kapiso
- 4Ferry piersNueva Segovia, Jinotega, Leymus and 1 more
- 1River beachesPlaya Baha Awika
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Coco River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
2beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
9mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Salto Kiuraskm 379
- Cairasakm 401
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa Cabo Viejo7.6 km away29.4°C
- Suki Aisa Twi Bay23 km away · cove29.4°C
Mountains at the source (9)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Peña Grande del Gualiquemito12 km away1,616m
- Cerro El Variador14 km away1,522m
- Cerro El Zapotillo15 km away1,092m
- Monte Viaguaire10 km away
- Cerro Oyoto14 km away
- Cerro Mancha de Robles7.1 km away
- Monte Las Escobris4.4 km away
- Cerro Ayotal3.4 km away
1 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Coco River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Río El Jícaro, Río Estelí, Río Mozonte, Río Poteca
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1468689) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit