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River

Gandaki River

630 km from source to mouth · India and Nepal.

IndiaNepalIndia and NepalFlows into Ganges

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

630km

Average flow

1,800m³/s

Basin

46,300km²

Drop

3,140m

from 3,184 m to 44 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

630 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

3,184 m44 m
Dhaulagiriat 3,184 m0 km
Rupse Falls62 km
Ramdi Bridge172 km
Trishuli Rivertributary265 km
Bharatpur369,377 people269 km
Gangesat 44 m630 km
0200400630 km
  1. 0 kmDhaulagiriat 3,184 m
  2. 31 kmJomsom1,370 people
  3. 62 kmRupse Falls
  4. 67 kmNarchyang waterfall
  5. 87 kmMyagdi Kholatributary
  6. 95 kmBāgluṅ23,296 people
  7. 96 kmBaglung Parbat Footbridge
  8. 172 kmRamdi Bridge
  9. 205 kmKeladighat Bridge
  10. 265 kmTrishuli Rivertributary
  11. 269 kmBharatpur369,377 people
  12. 270 kmNarayani Bridge
  13. 602 kmSonepur37,776 people
  14. 603 kmHājīpur147,688 people
  15. 630 kmGangesat 44 m

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

River in Nepal and India, tributary of Ganges

At the mouth it carries 1,760 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.4 seconds. It drops from 3,184 m to 44 m, 5.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 46,300 km², about the size of BT. 11.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Gandaki River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to March.

220
14°22 mmJan
220
16°10 mmFeb
240
21°20 mmMar
240
26°28 mmApr
440
28°74 mmMay
1,700
28°242 mmJun
4,100
27°392 mmJul
5,700
27°361 mmAug
5,200
26°220 mmSep
3,100
24°70 mmOct
1,300
19°4 mmNov
340
15°4 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 220 m³/s in the lowest month to 5,700 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 in KathmanduDiscover 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

Gandaki River: the basin in numbers

42,541 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.
  • 11.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 264/km²people per km²
  • 2,315maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,324mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 12.9°Caverage air temperature
  • 42%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 7%glaciers
  • 16%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 33% Forest
  • 22% Cropland
  • 7% Pasture
  • 6% Towns and cities
  • 7% Ice

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

Gandaki River: what you find on the way

  • 14DamsThulo Khulo intake diversion dam, Andhi Khola Hydro Electric Project intake dam, Jhankrebas and 11 more
  • 11Weirs
  • 6WaterfallsRupse Waterfalls, Narchyang waterfall, RAHUL'S HOME and 3 more
  • 5River beachesRamghat, Keladighat Dham, Bhalayetar Ghat and 2 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Gandaki 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

Waterfalls (2)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Rupse Fallskm 70
  2. Narchyang waterfallkm 76

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Gandaki River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Gandaki River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth28 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

Gandaki River in pictures

Riverbank of the Kali Gandaki River in Tukuche, Mustang District, Nepal
Saddam19 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kali Gandaki River near Marpha, Mustang, Nepal
Saddam19 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Palpa, Kali Gandaki River, Nepal
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Kali River in Ramghat
Basanta Kumar Dhakal · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

GangesIndiaIndia2,525 km12,000 m³/s

Tributaries (3)

Trishuli RiverNepalNepal163 km1,000 m³/sjoins at km 300

Also: Myagdi Khola, Rahughat Khola

In the same basin

Brahmaputra RiverIndiaIndia2,900 km19,500 m³/sYamunaIndiaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma RiverBangladeshBangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sChambal RiverIndiaIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladeshBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sGhaghara RiverIndiaIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladeshBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndiaIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndiaIndia729 km2,300 m³/sSon RiverIndiaIndia780 km1,200 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Son RiverIndiaIndia780 km1,200 m³/s30 km awayGhaghara RiverIndiaIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/s54 km awayWest Rapti RiverIndiaIndia600 km580 m³/s167 km awayKosi RiverIndiaIndia729 km2,300 m³/s210 km awayGomti RiverIndiaIndia900 km230 m³/s232 km awayDudh KoshiNepalNepal138 km180 m³/s209 km awayArun RiverChinaChina530 km1,300 m³/s243 km awayTrishuli RiverNepalNepal163 km1,000 m³/s246 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q849494) · 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 atlasesCascadyas — 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