River
Hérault
148 km from source to mouth · France.
FranceFlows into Mediterranean Sea
In numbers
Length
148km
Average flow
44m³/s
Basin
2,550km²
Drop
195m
from 195 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
148 km of river and 28 stops on the way: 20 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmMont Aigoualat 195 m
- 11 kmSumène1,620 people
- 19 kmVistributary
- 19 kmRieutordtributary
- 21 kmGanges3,997 people
- 22 kmCazilhac1,257 people
- 24 kmLaroque1,265 people
- 29 kmSaint-Bauzille-de-Putois1,283 people
- 32 kmBrissac615 people
- 38 kmPont de Saint-Etienne d'Issensac
- 70 kmPont du Diable, Hérault
- 71 kmSaint-Jean-de-Fos1,745 people
- 74 kmAniane2,362 people
- 82 kmGignac Bridge
- 82 kmGignac6,651 people
- 84 kmSaint-André-de-Sangonis4,270 people
- 89 kmLerguetributary
- 89 kmRuisseau Dourbietributary
- 98 kmAspiran1,311 people
- 103 kmPaulhan3,232 people
- 110 kmMontagnac3,362 people
- 112 kmLézignan-la-Cèbe1,138 people
- 117 kmPézenas8,647 people
- 119 kmCastelnau-de-Guers1,013 people
- 125 kmSaint-Thibéry3,132 people
- 126 kmRoman Bridge
- 128 kmFlorensac4,428 people
- 134 kmBessan4,531 people
- 142 kmAgde23,001 people
- 148 kmMediterranean Seaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in southern France
At the mouth it carries 44 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 57 seconds. It drops from 195 m to 0 m, 1.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,550 km², about the size of RE. 158,000 people live in it. Highest water: from October to January; lowest: from July to August. Its dams hold back little of its water (6.2% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- AgdeLargest city on its banks · 23,001 people
- Béziers Vias airport (BZR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 10 km from the cityCar hire at BZR airport (Béziers)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water21 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Hérault, month by month
Highest water: from October to January
Lowest water: from July to August. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 13 m³/s in the lowest month to 130 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
Hérault: the basin in numbers
2,621 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 158,000people live in the basin
- 60/km²people per km²
- 367maverage altitude of the basin
- 734mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 12.5°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 0.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 50% Forest
- 20% Cropland
- 17% 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
Hérault: what you find on the way
- 31WeirsBarrage Bertrand, Barrage de la Meuse, Barrage Bladier-Ricard and 28 more
- 3LocksCanal du Midi
- 10WaterfallsLa Sablette, Cascade d'Aigues-Folles and 8 more
- 9Boat rampsCale de mise à l'eau Canoê and 8 more
- 4Ferry piersPasseur Mimi and 3 more
- 2MarinasLa Vallée des Moulins, Port d'Agde
- 2River beachesPlage de la Tamarissière, Plage du Grau d'Agde
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Hérault 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.
4beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
20mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (4)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Marseillan Plage9.6 km away22.0°C
- Plage du Lazaret22 km away22.0°C
- Plage de la Corniche22 km away22.0°C
- Plage des Quilles21 km away22.0°C
Mountains at the source (20)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mont Aigoual2.8 km away · prominence 730 m1,567m
- Pic de Barette7.1 km away1,324m
- pic de Barrette7.2 km away1,324m
- Les Trois Quilles12 km away1,259m
- Pic Saint-Guiral13 km away1,193m
- La Rose des Vents7.1 km away1,130m
- Pic de Borgne11 km away946m
- Montagne du Lingas10 km away
12 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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
Hérault in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (11)
Also: Vis, Lergue, Arre, Buèges, Boyne, Peyne, Rieutord, Thongue, Lamalou, Alzon, Ruisseau Dourbie
SpainWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q81773) · 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 | Coastya, 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.
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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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