River
Great Menderes River
548 km from source to mouth · Turkey.
TurkeyFlows into Aegean Sea6th longest in Turkey
In numbers
Length
548km
Average flow
90m³/s
Basin
25,000km²
Drop
1,047m
from 1,046 m to -1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
548 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,046 m
- 101 kmLake Işıklı49 km²
- 232 kmGüney Waterfall
- 268 kmSarayköy18,937 people
- 288 kmBuharkent7,723 people
- 321 kmKuyucak7,017 people
- 344 kmAkçay Creektributary
- 357 kmYenipazar6,513 people
- 371 kmKöşk9,676 people
- 400 kmTepecik3,801 people
- 423 kmAcarlar12,297 people
- 506 kmLake Bafa64 km²
- 548 kmAegean Seaat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Turkey
At the mouth it carries 90 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 28 seconds. It drops from 1,046 m to -1 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 25,000 km², about the size of MK. 2.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from July to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 60% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- SarayköyLargest city on its banks · 18,937 people
- Çardak Airport (DNZ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 70 km from the cityCar hire at DNZ airport (Denizli)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to June and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit
Great Menderes River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to June and from August to October.
From about 6.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 240 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
Great Menderes River: the basin in numbers
24,364 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 85/km²people per km²
- 792maverage altitude of the basin
- 671mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 13.5°Caverage air temperature
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 1.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 15% Forest
- 40% Cropland
- 7% Pasture
- 3% 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
Great Menderes River: what you find on the way
- 8Weirs
- 3WaterfallsGüney Waterfall
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Great Menderes 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
9islands off the mouthIslandyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Güney Waterfallkm 189
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Işıklıkm 8249km²
- Lake Bafakm 412 · 25 m deep64km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Didem Plajı22 km away24.5°C
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Akdağ (Denizli)15 km away2,449m
- Beycesultan Hill12 km away
- Deliklitaş Hill12 km away
- Boz Dağ9.0 km away
- Kıraç Hill (Denizli)15 km away
Islands off the mouth (9)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Agathonisi22 km away13km²
- Farmakonisi30 km away3.9km²
- Lade3.2 km away
- Panayır Island27 km away0.1km²
- Pitta22 km away
- Tavşan Adası14 km away
- Strongylo20 km away
- Praso rock19 km away
1 more on IslandyasIslandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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
Great Menderes River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Lycus, Çine Brook, Akçay Creek, Banaz Brook, Orsinus
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Turkey114 km11 m³/s47 km awayGediz RiverTurkey401 km83 m³/s122 km awayMaritsaTurkey490 km200 m³/s370 km awaySimav BrookTurkey321 km79 m³/s337 km awayKöprüçay RiverTurkey183 km36 m³/s362 km awayManavgat RiverTurkey93 km150 m³/s388 km awayErgeneTurkey283 km64 m³/s393 km awayNestos
Greece230 km40 m³/s421 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q211089) · 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas, Islandyas — 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
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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
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit