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River

Emajõgi

100 km from source to mouth · Estonia.

EstoniaEstoniaFlows into Lake Peipus

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthTartu City
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

100km

Average flow

70m³/s

Basin

9,628km²

Drop

3m

from 33 m to 30 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

100 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

80 m30 m
Võrtsjärvat 33 m0 km
Pedja Rivertributary18 km
Elva Rivertributary26 km
Laeva Rivertributary32 km
Amme Rivertributary39 km
Tartu97,759 people53 km
Tartu City101,032 people54 km
Lake Peipusat 30 m100 km
020406080100 km
  1. 0 kmVõrtsjärvat 33 m
  2. 1 kmVõrtsjärv260 km²
  3. 2 kmRannu-Jõesuu bridge
  4. 2 kmJõesuu bridge
  5. 18 kmPedja Rivertributary
  6. 26 kmElva Rivertributary
  7. 30 kmIlmatsalu Rivertributary
  8. 32 kmLaeva Rivertributary
  9. 39 kmAmme Rivertributary
  10. 45 kmJänese railway bridge
  11. 53 kmTartu97,759 people
  12. 53 kmKaarsild
  13. 53 kmStone Bridge
  14. 53 kmGroup of sculptures to celebrate the 100,000th citizen of Tartu
  15. 54 kmTartu City101,032 people
  16. 63 kmMõra Rivertributary
  17. 93 kmAhja Rivertributary
  18. 94 kmLake Koosa2.5 km²
  19. 99 kmKalli Rivertributary
  20. 100 kmLake Peipusat 30 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Estonia flowing into Lake Peipus

At the mouth it carries 70 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 36 seconds. Its basin covers 9,628 km², about the size of CY. 250,000 people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from January to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Tartu CityLargest city on its banks · 101,032 people
  • Tartu Airport (TAY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at TAY airport (Tartu)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water24 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to AugustThe best months to visit

Emajõgi, month by month

Highest water: from April to June

Lowest water: from January to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to August.

71
-7°34 mmJan
45
-7°26 mmFeb
45
-2°28 mmMar
170
4°34 mmApr
160
11°48 mmMay
160
15°60 mmJun
100
17°71 mmJul
110
16°78 mmAug
120
11°68 mmSep
130
6°60 mmOct
140
0°54 mmNov
100
-4°42 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 45 m³/s in the lowest month to 170 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

Car hire at TAY airport (Tartu)Discover CarsSee 

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

Emajõgi: the basin in numbers

8,982 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 250,000people live in the basin
  • 28/km²people per km²
  • 75maverage altitude of the basin
  • 621mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 5.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 16%protected areas
  • 3.4%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 30% Forest
  • 29% Cropland
  • 4% 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

Emajõgi: what you find on the way

  • 13Boat rampsLuunja jõesadama slipp, Ürgoru paadisadama slipp, Saaga sadama slipp and 10 more
  • 11MarinasJõesuu Marina, Market Marina, Väike-Turu Marina and 8 more
  • 5River beachesTartu Emajõe vabaujula, Emajõe linnaujula beach, Luunja beach and 2 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Emajõgi 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.

  • 2lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Võrtsjärvkm 1 · 6 m deep260km²
  2. Lake Koosakm 872.5km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Emajõgi: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Emajõgi: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth13 km across

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

Emajõgi in pictures

Where Võrtsjärv meets Emajõgi
Priit · CC BY 2.0
Boat on River Emajõgi
Ivo Kruusamägi · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cafe on the river Emajõgi in the downtown of Tartu (December 2023)
Sillerkiil · CC0
Emajõgi
Kertu.brutus · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (10)

Pedja RiverEstoniaEstonia125 km11 m³/sjoins at km 17Ahja RiverEstoniaEstonia104 km72 m³/sjoins at km 87

Also: Amme River, Elva River, Porijõgi, Ilmatsalu River, Laeva River, Kalli River, Kavilda River, Mõra River

In the same basin

NarvaEstoniaEstonia74 km400 m³/sVelikayaRussiaRussia430 km130 m³/sVõhandu RiverEstoniaEstonia165 km11 m³/sPiusa RiverEstoniaEstonia109 km5.1 m³/sPõltsamaa RiverEstoniaEstonia136 km16 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Ahja RiverEstoniaEstonia104 km72 m³/s5 km awayVõhandu RiverEstoniaEstonia165 km11 m³/s39 km awayPedja RiverEstoniaEstonia125 km11 m³/s52 km awayVelikayaRussiaRussia430 km130 m³/s79 km awayPõltsamaa RiverEstoniaEstonia136 km16 m³/s53 km awayPiusa RiverEstoniaEstonia109 km5.1 m³/s63 km awayNarvaEstoniaEstonia74 km400 m³/s122 km awayNavesti RiverEstoniaEstonia102 km280 m³/s138 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q215378) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit