River
Esla
285 km from source to mouth · Spain.
SpainFlows into Douro River6th longest in Spain
In numbers
Length
285km
Average flow
140m³/s
Basin
16,163km²
Drop
499m
from 1,104 m to 605 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
285 km of river and 21 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,104 m
- 23 kmRiaño Reservoir16 km²
- 48 kmCistierna3,897 people
- 51 kmMercadillo Bridge
- 113 kmBernesga Rivertributary
- 138 kmPuente de Valencia de Don Juan
- 138 kmValencia de Don Juan4,184 people
- 177 kmCea Rivertributary
- 187 kmÓrbigo Rivertributary
- 201 kmTera Rivertributary
- 209 kmQuintos Bridge
- 210 kmPesquera Bridge
- 228 kmCastrotorafe Bridge
- 232 kmBridge of La Estrella of 1933
- 235 kmViaducto de San Pedro de las Cuevas
- 248 kmViaduct of Martín Gil
- 253 kmBridge of Manzanal del Barco of 1933
- 253 kmBridge of Manzanal del Barco of 1929
- 253 kmBridge of Manzanal del Barco of 2007
- 261 kmAlistetributary
- 270 kmRicobayo Arch Bridge
- 271 kmRicobayo Reservoir23 km²
- 285 kmDouro Riverat 605 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River tributary to Douro, in the provinces of León and Zamora, Castile and León, Spain
At the mouth it carries 135 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 19 seconds. It drops from 1,104 m to 605 m, 1.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 16,163 km², about the size of SZ. 422,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January; lowest: from July to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 63% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- Valencia de Don JuanLargest city on its banks · 4,184 people
- León Airport (LEN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 35 km from the cityCar hire at OVD airport (Ranón)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water5 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Esla, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Lowest water: from July to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 28 m³/s in the lowest month to 310 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
Esla: the basin in numbers
16,018 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 422,000people live in the basin
- 26/km²people per km²
- 1,011maverage altitude of the basin
- 652mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 10.2°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 0.5%covered by lakes
- 3.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 47% Forest
- 34% Cropland
- 13% 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
Esla: what you find on the way
- 21WeirsPuerto, Salto de Santa Eulalia and 19 more
- 2Locks
- 2WaterfallsLa Hoyera
- 1Canoe put-ins
- 3Boat ramps
- 3River beachesPlaya Fluvial Bretocino, Playa Fluvial Las Regatinas, Playa del embalse de Ricobayo
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Esla 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
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Riaño Reservoirkm 2016km²
- Ricobayo Reservoirkm 23623km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Tiatordos10 km away1,950m
- Pico Yordas14 km away
- Peña Ten2.4 km away
- Mampodre6.5 km away
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
Esla in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Douro River
Portugal897 km680 m³/sTributaries (8)
Also: Cea River, Órbigo River, Bernesga River, Tera River, Aliste, Río Porma, Río Truchas, río Orza
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Spain284 km42 m³/s41 km awayPisuerga RiverSpain283 km110 m³/s100 km awayÁgueda RiverPortugal176 km23 m³/s88 km awayCarrión RiverSpain179 km21 m³/s151 km awaySilisSpain228 km240 m³/s176 km awayMinho RiverPortugal315 km340 m³/s231 km awayTâmega RiverPortugal184 km69 m³/s193 km awayAlbercheSpain100 km15 m³/s201 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q14764) · 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
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 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit