River
Jordan River
252 km from source to mouth · 5 countries.
Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and SyriaFlows into Dead Sea1st longest in Jordan
In numbers
Length
252km
Average flow
52m³/s
Basin
18,000km²
Drop
501m
from 86 m to -415 m
Countries
5
The journey
From source to mouth
252 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSde Nehemiaat 86 m
- 17 kmHasbani Rivertributary
- 17 kmDan Rivertributary
- 17 kmQiryat Shmona22,512 people
- 31 kmHula Valley
- 32 kmHula0.8 km²
- 44 kmDaughters of Jacob Bridge
- 55 kmHaDodot Bridge
- 59 kmArik Bridge
- 96 kmYarmuktributary
- 98 kmJezreel Valley railway bridge at Old Gesher
- 114 kmHarod streamtributary
- 118 kmJordan River Crossing
- 177 kmZarqa Rivertributary
- 179 kmJisr ed Damiye
- 210 kmWadi Aujatributary
- 213 kmAllenby Bridge
- 223 kmKing Abdullah Bridge
- 251 kmDead Sea643 km²
- 252 kmDead Seaat -415 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in West Asia which flows to the Dead Sea
At the mouth it carries 52 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 48 seconds. It drops from 86 m to -415 m, 2.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 18,000 km², about the size of KW. 7.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Qiryat ShmonaLargest city on its banks · 22,512 people
- Uri Michaeli Haifa International Airport (HFA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 66 km from the cityCar hire at BEY airport (Beirut)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From February to May and NovemberThe best months to visit
Jordan River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from February to May and November.
From about 8.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 140 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
Jordan River: the basin in numbers
18,317 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 428/km²people per km²
- 563maverage altitude of the basin
- 352mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 17.9°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 1.3%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 5% Forest
- 50% Cropland
- 12% Pasture
- 15% 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
Jordan River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 11WaterfallsFresh Water Waterfall and 10 more
- 2Boat rampsHaGoshrim Kayaks Starting Point
- 2River beachesAmnun Beach, Ramada Resort Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Jordan 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
51mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Hulakm 270.8km²
- Dead Seakm 214 · 360 m deep643km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (51)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Odem13 km away1,187m
- Har Senaim14 km away1,146m
- Mount Keta14 km away1,125m
- Har Zaqif8.7 km away823m
- Nezer Mountain6.6 km away760m
- Har Malkiyya14 km away702m
- Har Noter11 km away582m
- Har Zemer12 km away529m
43 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
Jordan River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (25)
Palestine208 km47 m³/sjoins at km 179Zarqa RiverJordan65 km6.5 m³/sjoins at km 151Hasbani RiverLebanon65 km5.0 m³/sjoins at km 14YarmukIsrael57 km2.6 m³/sjoins at km 82Also: Banyas, Dan River, Wadi Qelt, Wadi al-Far'a, Harod stream, Nahal Tavor, Gilbon River, Nahal Dishon, Wadi el Maleh, Nachal Orvim, Yavneel stream, Naẖal Yissakhar, Wādī Shūbāsh, Nahal Rosh Pina, Mahanayim Stream, Wadi Machoch, Fatzael Stream, Naẖal Avuqa, Naẖal Doshen, Naẖal Menẖemya, Wādī an Nukhaylah
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Jordan72 km3.8 m³/s17 km awayZarqa RiverJordan65 km6.5 m³/s57 km awayWadi AujaPalestine208 km47 m³/s32 km awayYarkon RiverIsrael28 km12 m³/s92 km awayYarmukIsrael57 km2.6 m³/s116 km awayKishon RiverIsrael70 km7.6 m³/s144 km awayLitani RiverLebanon140 km23 m³/s196 km awayHasbani RiverLebanon65 km5.0 m³/s178 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q40059) · 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 | 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
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