River
Dunajec
274 km from source to mouth · Poland and Slovakia.
Poland and SlovakiaFlows into Vistula10th longest in Poland
In numbers
Length
274km
Average flow
84m³/s
Basin
6,804km²
Drop
643m
from 810 m to 167 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
274 km of river and 26 stops on the way: 13 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmHigh Tatrasat 810 m
- 0 kmKościelisko3,900 people
- 22 kmCzarny Dunajec3,594 people
- 43 kmNowy Targ33,763 people
- 63 kmBiałkatributary
- 63 kmBiały Dunajectributary
- 75 kmLake Czorsztyn10 km²
- 77 kmLake Sromowce0.7 km²
- 80 kmSpišská Stará Ves2,131 people
- 86 kmKładka w Sromowcach Niżnych
- 92 kmDunajec River Gorge
- 95 kmSzczawnica6,032 people
- 98 kmKrościenko nad Dunajcem3,500 people
- 141 kmStary Sącz8,959 people
- 147 kmPopradtributary
- 149 kmNowy Sącz84,376 people
- 150 kmSmolniktributary
- 150 kmKamienicatributary
- 176 kmLake Rożnow13 km²
- 176 kmŁososina Dolna3,400 people
- 187 kmŁososinatributary
- 190 kmJezioro Czchowskie1.7 km²
- 219 kmWojnicz3,509 people
- 231 kmWierzchosławice3,000 people
- 234 kmBiałatributary
- 247 kmŻabno4,250 people
- 248 kmBiskupice Radłowskie1,019 people
- 274 kmVistulaat 167 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Poland and Slovakia
At the mouth it carries 84 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 30 seconds. It drops from 810 m to 167 m, 2.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 6,804 km², about the size of PS. 5.6 million people live in it. Highest water: May and from July to August; lowest: from December to February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (17% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Nowy SączLargest city on its banks · 84,376 people
- Poprad-Tatry Airport (TAT)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 70 km from the cityCar hire at TAT airport (Poprad)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water75 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Dunajec, month by month
Highest water: May and from July to August
Lowest water: from December to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 100 m³/s in the lowest month to 400 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
Dunajec: the basin in numbers
19,748 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 5.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 285/km²people per km²
- 461maverage altitude of the basin
- 787mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.2°Caverage air temperature
- 18%protected areas
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 1.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 46% Forest
- 36% Cropland
- 15% Pasture
- 17% 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
Dunajec: what you find on the way
- 93WeirsTama Betlejemka, Tama Nr.26 and 91 more
- 4Locks
- 6WaterfallsWodospad Piaski and 5 more
- 2Canoe put-ins
- 27Boat rampsSklz Lysá nad Dunajcom, Sklz Mareje, Sklz Červený Kláštor and 24 more
- 15Ferry piersPrzystań gondoli "Czorsztynianka", Przystań Harnaś, przystań statków "Dunajec" i "Halny" and 12 more
- 24MarinasPrzystań wędkarska Cicha Woda, Wiatr Woda, Przystań Mizerna and 21 more
- 1River beaches
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Dunajec 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.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
142mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Czorsztynkm 6310km²
- Lake Sromowcekm 650.7km²
- Lake Rożnowkm 14913km²
- Jezioro Czchowskiekm 1611.7km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (142)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Giewont13 km away · prominence 170 m1,895m
- Bystrá6.4 km away2,248m
- Baníkov4.5 km away · prominence 261 m2,178m
- Klin4.4 km away2,173m
- Volovec1.0 km away2,063m
- Jakubina3.7 km away2,194m
- Baranec5.1 km away2,184m
- Kresanica11 km away2,122m
134 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
Dunajec in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
VistulaPoland1,047 km1,100 m³/sTributaries (17)
Also: Białka, Biała, Kamienica, Grajcarek, Czarny Dunajec, Biały Dunajec, Łososina, Kamienica Gorczańska, Ochotnica, Lipník, Lesnický potok, Smolnik, Słomka, Łubinka, Jaworzynka, Obidzki Potok
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q840694) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 | Lakeyas, 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?
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