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River

Ganges

2,525 km from source to mouth · India.

IndiaIndiaFlows into Bay of Bengal2nd longest in India

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

2,525km

Average flow

12,000m³/s

Basin

1,060,000km²

Drop

468m

from 466 m to -2 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

2,525 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 52 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

466 m-2 m
Gangotri Glacierat 466 m0 km
Farrukhābād241,152 people528 km
Kanpur4,581,268 people690 km
Prayagraj5,954,391 people949 km
Varanasi1,198,491 people1,173 km
Ghazīpur103,095 people1,292 km
Patna1,684,222 people1,516 km
Munger213,303 people1,682 km
Mahananda Rivertributary2,035 km
Rajshahi763,580 people2,073 km
Bay of Bengalat -2 m2,525 km
01,0002,0002,525 km
  1. 0 kmGangotri Glacierat 466 m
  2. 7 kmAlaknanda Rivertributary
  3. 7 kmBhagirathi Rivertributary
  4. 60 kmRishīkesh66,390 people
  5. 60 kmRishikesh70,499 people
  6. 65 kmBirbhaddar13,058 people
  7. 86 kmHaridwar186,079 people
  8. 253 kmGarhmuktesar37,043 people
  9. 312 kmAnūpshahr25,306 people
  10. 330 kmBabrāla16,670 people
  11. 336 kmNaraura22,432 people
  12. 499 kmShamsābād25,266 people
  13. 528 kmFarrukhābād241,152 people
  14. 533 kmFatehgarh14,847 people
  15. 545 kmKamalganj16,222 people
  16. 580 kmRamgangatributary
  17. 690 kmKanpur4,581,268 people
  18. 692 kmKanpur Cantonment108,534 people
  19. 697 kmJājmau652,831 people
  20. 948 kmJhūsi16,642 people
  21. 949 kmPrayagraj5,954,391 people
  22. 951 kmYamunatributary
  23. 987 kmSirsā12,608 people
  24. 1,087 kmMirzapur-cum-Vindhyachal234,871 people
  25. 1,087 kmMirzāpur220,029 people
  26. 1,115 kmKachhwa15,381 people
  27. 1,139 kmChunār36,459 people
  28. 1,167 kmRāmnagar44,277 people
  29. 1,173 kmVaranasi1,198,491 people
  30. 1,177 kmVaruna Rivertributary
  31. 1,223 kmSaidpur22,904 people
  32. 1,269 kmZamānia32,008 people
  33. 1,292 kmGhazīpur103,095 people
  34. 1,309 kmMuhammadābād33,186 people
  35. 1,331 kmKarmanasa Rivertributary
  36. 1,344 kmBuxar102,861 people
  37. 1,443 kmGhaghara Rivertributary
  38. 1,471 kmSon Rivertributary
  39. 1,486 kmDighwāra32,741 people
  40. 1,510 kmSonepur37,776 people
  41. 1,516 kmGandaktributary
  42. 1,516 kmGandaki Rivertributary
  43. 1,516 kmPatna1,684,222 people
  44. 1,519 kmMahatma Gandhi Setu
  45. 1,525 kmPunpun Rivertributary
  46. 1,553 kmMahnar Bazar48,293 people
  47. 1,582 kmBārh61,470 people
  48. 1,607 kmTeghra56,234 people
  49. 1,613 kmBāruni84,888 people
  50. 1,613 kmBarauni71,660 people
  51. 1,618 kmBihāt67,952 people
  52. 1,619 kmMālhīpur12,439 people
  53. 1,682 kmMunger213,303 people
  54. 1,722 kmBariārpur14,595 people
  55. 1,740 kmSultānganj52,892 people
  56. 1,781 kmSabaur12,575 people
  57. 1,803 kmColgong33,700 people
  58. 1,821 kmKosi Rivertributary
  59. 1,869 kmManihāri26,629 people
  60. 1,917 kmRājmahal22,514 people
  61. 1,956 kmFarakka21,834 people
  62. 1,958 kmFarakka Barrage
  63. 1,973 kmDhuliān77,070 people
  64. 2,027 kmLālgola28,442 people
  65. 2,035 kmMahananda Rivertributary
  66. 2,073 kmRajshahi763,580 people
  67. 2,152 kmBherāmāra38,159 people
  68. 2,373 kmChāndpur203,000 people
  69. 2,373 kmPadma Rivertributary
  70. 2,525 kmBay of Bengalat -2 m

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

Major river in India

At the mouth it carries 12,000 m³/s on average: 4.8 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 466 m to -2 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,060,000 km², about the size of MR. 634 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from February to May. Its dams hold back little of its water (6.2% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • PrayagrajLargest city on its banks · 5,954,391 people
  • Prayagraj Airport (IXD)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 12 km from the cityCar hire at AGR airport (Agra)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water49 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe7 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From November to MarchThe best months to visit

Ganges, month by month

Highest water: September

Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from November to March.

10,300
16°22 mmJan
6,800
19°11 mmFeb
6,900
24°16 mmMar
6,900
29°16 mmApr
7,300
33°40 mmMay
16,700
32°128 mmJun
50,900
30°288 mmJul
86,600
29°298 mmAug
100,300
29°191 mmSep
88,400
26°73 mmOct
55,400
21°7 mmNov
25,000
17°6 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 6,800 m³/s in the lowest month to 100,300 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 AGR airport (Agra)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

Ganges: the basin in numbers

1,574,223 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 6.2% of a year's flow.
  • 634millionpeople live in the basin
  • 407/km²people per km²
  • 1,567maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,199mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 17.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 10%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes
  • 2%glaciers
  • 7%permafrost
  • 79km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 17% Forest
  • 39% Cropland
  • 13% Pasture
  • 6% Towns and cities
  • 2% 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

Ganges: what you find on the way

  • 16DamsBhimgoda Barrage, Narora Dam, Farakka Barrage and 13 more
  • 18Weirs
  • 3Locks
  • 10WaterfallsPatna Waterfalls, Neer Gahr Waterfall, Secret Waterfall and 7 more
  • 6RapidsThe Wall, Three Blind Mice, Crossfire and 3 more
  • 1Canoe put-ins
  • 2Boat ramps
  • 47Ferry piersRamnagar, Dasaswamedh Ghat, Talaimari Balur Ghat,Rajshahi and 44 more
  • 2River beachesNeem Beach, DASHASWAMEDH GHAT

From OpenStreetMap, within 3.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Ganges: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Ganges: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth171 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

Ganges in pictures

View of Ghats across the Ganges, Varanasi
Wedstock 2011 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Aarti Lights Floating on the Ganges
Shoot stufz · CC BY-SA 4.0
Boats at sunrise Ganges River Varanasi Uttar Pradesh Schwiki
Schwiki · CC BY-SA 4.0
Shiva Bearing the Descent of the Ganges River, folio from a Hindi manuscript by the saint Narayan LACMA M.86.345.6
Unknown author · Public domain

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (24)

Brahmaputra RiverIndiaIndia2,900 km19,500 m³/sYarlung Tsangpo RiverChinaChina2,840 km2,900 m³/sYamunaIndiaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sjoins at km 854Ghaghara RiverIndiaIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/sjoins at km 1,296Gomti RiverIndiaIndia900 km230 m³/sSon RiverIndiaIndia780 km1,200 m³/sjoins at km 1,321Kosi RiverIndiaIndia729 km2,300 m³/sjoins at km 1,636Gandaki RiverIndiaIndia630 km1,800 m³/sjoins at km 1,361RamgangaIndiaIndia600 km940 m³/sjoins at km 521Mahananda RiverIndiaIndia360 km390 m³/sjoins at km 1,828Bhagirathi RiverIndiaIndia205 km260 m³/sjoins at km 6Alaknanda RiverIndiaIndia190 km320 m³/sjoins at km 6

Also: Tamsa River, Sarayu, Burhi Gandak River, Tons River, Varuna River, Karmanasa River, Punpun River, Assi River, Gandak, Kiul River, Rāmgangā River

In the same basin

Chambal RiverIndiaIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladeshBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladeshBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sManas RiverIndiaIndia400 km500 m³/sSankosh RiverIndiaIndia320 km5,400 m³/sBetwa RiverIndiaIndia590 km500 m³/sArun RiverChinaChina530 km1,300 m³/sSharda RiverIndiaIndia350 km2,300 m³/sWest Rapti RiverIndiaIndia600 km580 m³/sTrishuli RiverNepalNepal163 km1,000 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Padma RiverBangladeshBangladesh120 km32,000 m³/s0 km awayJamuna RiverBangladeshBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/s110 km awayTeesta RiverBangladeshBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/s267 km awayDamodar RiverIndiaIndia592 km680 m³/s278 km awayBrahmaputra RiverIndiaIndia2,900 km19,500 m³/s350 km awayMahananda RiverIndiaIndia360 km390 m³/s273 km awaySankosh RiverIndiaIndia320 km5,400 m³/s317 km awayManas RiverIndiaIndia400 km500 m³/s333 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q5089) · 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

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