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River

Isar

292 km from source to mouth · Germany and Austria.

GermanyAustriaGermany and AustriaFlows into Danube

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

292km

Average flow

170m³/s

Basin

8,370km²

Drop

709m

from 1,019 m to 310 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

292 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 37 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,019 m310 m
Sourceat 1,019 m0 km
Sylvensteinsee1.7 km²46 km
Jachentributary55 km
Rottachtributary89 km
Munich1,505,036 people125 km
Wasserfall Schwabinger Bach in München127 km
Freising48,953 people162 km
Landshut71,922 people206 km
Wörther See0.4 km²227 km
Landau an der Isar14,776 people256 km
Danubeat 310 m292 km
0100200292 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,019 m
  2. 11 kmMittenwald8,557 people
  3. 18 kmBarmsee0.6 km²
  4. 46 kmSeeachetributary
  5. 46 kmSylvensteinsee1.7 km²
  6. 55 kmJachentributary
  7. 60 kmLenggries10,176 people
  8. 66 kmWackersberg3,463 people
  9. 68 kmGaißach3,028 people
  10. 70 kmBad Tölz17,434 people
  11. 86 kmGeretsried23,364 people
  12. 89 kmRottachtributary
  13. 95 kmWolfratshausen17,191 people
  14. 98 kmIcking3,586 people
  15. 98 kmIckinger Wehr
  16. 100 kmLoisachtributary
  17. 105 kmSchäftlarn5,281 people
  18. 108 kmStraßlach-Dingharting3,250 people
  19. 110 kmIsarstauwehr
  20. 112 kmGrünwald10,836 people
  21. 114 kmPullach im Isartal8,589 people
  22. 117 kmGroßhesseloher Brücke
  23. 118 kmGutshof Menterschwaige
  24. 118 kmLola Montez House
  25. 122 kmFlaucher Gasthaus
  26. 122 kmSendling41,002 people
  27. 123 kmWittelsbacherbrücke
  28. 125 kmCornelius bridge
  29. 125 kmLudwig bridge Munich
  30. 125 kmMunich1,505,036 people
  31. 126 kmMaximilian Bridge
  32. 126 kmLehel7,178 people
  33. 127 kmLuitpoldbrücke Munich
  34. 127 kmWasserfall Schwabinger Bach in München
  35. 128 kmMax-Joseph Bridge
  36. 129 kmBogenhausen77,542 people
  37. 131 kmOberföhring13,179 people
  38. 132 kmUnterer Wehrbachtributary
  39. 132 kmSchwabinger Bachtributary
  40. 135 kmUnterföhring11,729 people
  41. 135 kmFeringasee0.3 km²
  42. 139 kmIsmaning18,038 people
  43. 141 kmGarching17,656 people
  44. 151 kmMintraching2,000 people
  45. 151 kmSchörgenbachtributary
  46. 155 kmPullinger Weiher0.3 km²
  47. 162 kmFreising48,953 people
  48. 172 kmLangenbach3,755 people
  49. 173 kmMoosachtributary
  50. 182 kmMoosburg an der Isar20,107 people
  51. 183 kmMoosburg17,363 people
  52. 189 kmBruckberg5,071 people
  53. 190 kmAusgleichweiher1.3 km²
  54. 191 kmSempttributary
  55. 191 kmAmpertributary
  56. 191 kmIsar-Stromschnelle Sieben Rippen bei Bruckbergerau
  57. 197 kmEching3,516 people
  58. 197 kmEchinger Stausee0.8 km²
  59. 199 kmTiefenbach3,501 people
  60. 204 kmKumhausen4,812 people
  61. 206 kmLandshut71,922 people
  62. 211 kmErgolding11,438 people
  63. 223 kmNiederaichbach3,602 people
  64. 225 kmWörth an der Isar3,275 people
  65. 227 kmWörther See0.4 km²
  66. 233 kmLoiching3,506 people
  67. 238 kmDingolfing9,167 people
  68. 256 kmLandau an der Isar14,776 people
  69. 278 kmPlattling8,366 people
  70. 292 kmDanubeat 310 m

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

River in Tyrol, Austria and Bavaria, Germany

At the mouth it carries 174 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 14 seconds. It drops from 1,019 m to 310 m, 2.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 8,370 km², about the size of PR. 3.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to May; lowest: from December to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (2.2% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • MunichLargest city on its banks · 1,505,036 people
  • Munich Airport (MUC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 29 km from the cityCar hire at MUC airport (Munich)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water37 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe43 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Isar, month by month

Highest water: from March to May

Lowest water: from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to September.

140
-2°54 mmJan
120
-1°47 mmFeb
250
4°53 mmMar
250
8°61 mmApr
260
12°90 mmMay
210
16°112 mmJun
220
18°112 mmJul
220
17°104 mmAug
210
14°71 mmSep
190
9°55 mmOct
190
3°58 mmNov
160
-1°59 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 120 m³/s in the lowest month to 260 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 MUC airport (Munich)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

Isar: the basin in numbers

9,103 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 2.2% of a year's flow.
  • 3.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 339/km²people per km²
  • 735maverage altitude of the basin
  • 948mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 7.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 30%protected areas
  • 1.9%covered by lakes
  • 0.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 51% Forest
  • 28% Cropland
  • 17% Pasture
  • 13% 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

Isar: what you find on the way

  • 20DamsStauwehr Krün, Geschiebesperre, Absturz and 17 more
  • 199WeirsVorsperre, Wehr Fleck (Winkl), Kastenmühlwehr and 196 more
  • 6LocksÜberlauf and 5 more
  • 38WaterfallsLeutaschklamm Wasserfall, Lainbach-Wasserfall, Kleiner Wasserfall and 35 more
  • 39RapidsIsarburg, Isarwelle Plattling and 37 more
  • 4Canoe put-insDKV Referenzstrecke WW-I, Marzling and 2 more
  • 34Boat rampsKanustation, Floßlände Isar, Ausstiegsstelle and 31 more
  • 1MarinasSchutzhafen Deggendorf
  • 2Boat rentalsSeehaus Hinterbrühl
  • 2River beachesKiesstrand an der Brudermühlbrücke

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Isar 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
  • 7lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 159mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (2)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Wasserfall Schwabinger Bach in Münchenkm 118
  2. Isar-Stromschnelle Sieben Rippen bei Bruckbergeraukm 178

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (7)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Barmseekm 170.6km²
  2. Sylvensteinseekm 431.7km²
  3. Feringaseekm 1250.3km²
  4. Pullinger Weiherkm 1440.3km²
  5. Ausgleichweiherkm 1771.3km²
  6. Echinger Stauseekm 1840.8km²
  7. Wörther Seekm 2110.4km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (159)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Birkkarspitze4.5 km away · prominence 1,564 m2,749m
  2. Kaltwasserkarspitze4.6 km away2,733m
  3. Großer Bettelwurf9.1 km away2,726m
  4. Nordkette9.4 km away2,637m
  5. Mittlere Ödkarspitze4.3 km away2,745m
  6. Grosser Lafatscher4.7 km away2,696m
  7. Große Seekarspitze3.5 km away2,677m
  8. Hintere Bachofenspitze4.0 km away2,668m

151 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Isar: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Isar: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth13 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

Isar in pictures

20230521 Isarbrücke Mintraching Grünec
Flocci Nivis · CC BY 4.0
Laufwasser Kraftwerk Isarwerk1
Richard Bartz · CC BY-SA 2.5
Laufwasserkraftwerk Oberföhring Isarwerk 3
Richard Bartz · CC BY-SA 2.5
2020-08-09 Isar München nach der Flut 17
Burkhard Mücke · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

DanubeRomaniaRomania2,850 km5,400 m³/s

Tributaries (23)

AmperGermanyGermany185 km45 m³/sjoins at km 177LoisachGermanyGermany114 km54 m³/sjoins at km 93

Also: Eisbach, Rißbach, Moosach, Jachen, Leutascher Ache, Schwabinger Bach, Auer Mühlbach, Sempt, Seeache, Gleirschbach, Seebach, Brunnbach, Schörgenbach, Dürrach, Kleine Isar, Rottach, Unterer Wehrbach, Goldach, Garchinger Mühlbach, Mühlbach, Gießenbach

In the same basin

TiszaSerbiaSerbia966 km800 m³/sSavaSerbiaSerbia945 km1,700 m³/sDravaCroatiaCroatia720 km620 m³/sInnGermanyGermany517 km740 m³/sPrutMoldovaMoldova953 km120 m³/sMoravaAustriaAustria388 km110 m³/sDrinaSerbiaSerbia346 km120 m³/sSiret RiverRomaniaRomania740 km230 m³/sOlt RiverRomaniaRomania615 km170 m³/sMureș RiverHungaryHungary803 km160 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

InnGermanyGermany517 km740 m³/s45 km awaySalzachGermanyGermany225 km250 m³/s67 km awayAltmühlGermanyGermany227 km370 m³/s79 km awayNaabGermanyGermany165 km430 m³/s73 km awayAlzGermanyGermany63 km53 m³/s63 km awayAmperGermanyGermany185 km45 m³/s80 km awayEnnsAustriaAustria254 km200 m³/s131 km awayTraunAustriaAustria153 km140 m³/s120 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q106588) · 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, 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.

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