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River

Kishon River

70 km from source to mouth · Israel and Palestine.

IsraelPalestineIsrael and PalestineFlows into Haifa Bay1st longest in Israel

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

70km

Average flow

7.6m³/s

Basin

1,100km²

Drop

86m

from 83 m to -3 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

70 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

83 m-3 m
Sourceat 83 m0 km
Muqeibila4,081 people6 km
Abu Shusha831 people36 km
Shofet Rivertributary45 km
Turkish bridge overKishon stream52 km
Rekhasim12,668 people55 km
Tzipori rivertributary62 km
Haifa Bayat -3 m70 km
020406070 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 83 m
  2. 6 kmMuqeibila4,081 people
  3. 36 kmAbu Shusha831 people
  4. 45 kmShofet Rivertributary
  5. 52 kmTurkish bridge overKishon stream
  6. 55 kmRekhasim12,668 people
  7. 56 kmYagur1,617 people
  8. 62 kmTzipori rivertributary
  9. 63 kmNahal Nachashtributary
  10. 70 kmSaadia rivertributary
  11. 70 kmNahal Neshertributary
  12. 70 kmNachal Gdoratributary
  13. 70 kmHaifa Bayat -3 m

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

River in northern Israel

At the mouth it carries 7.6 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 327 seconds. It drops from 83 m to -3 m, 1.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,100 km², about the size of MQ. 880,000 people live in it. Highest water: January; lowest: from June to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • RekhasimLargest city on its banks · 12,668 people
  • Uri Michaeli Haifa International Airport (HFA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the cityCar hire at TLV airport (Tel Aviv)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From March to June and OctoberThe best months to visit

Kishon River, month by month

Highest water: January

Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from March to June and October.

28
13°143 mmJan
22
14°89 mmFeb
13
15°56 mmMar
5.2
18°20 mmApr
1.9
22°6 mmMay
0.9
25°0 mmJun
0.8
27°0 mmJul
0.8
28°0 mmAug
0.8
26°3 mmSep
1.1
24°16 mmOct
8.9
20°86 mmNov
19
15°122 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 0.8 m³/s in the lowest month to 28 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 TLV airport (Tel Aviv)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

Kishon River: the basin in numbers

1,123 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 880,000people live in the basin
  • 786/km²people per km²
  • 171maverage altitude of the basin
  • 524mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 20.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 5%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 37% Forest
  • 39% Cropland
  • 9% Pasture
  • 45% 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

Kishon River: what you find on the way

  • 1Dams
  • 1MarinasShavit
  • 1River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Kishon 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.

  • 3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
  • 38mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Beaches (3)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. H̱of HaKarmel7.2 km away28.2°C
  2. H̱of Qiryat H̱ayyim2.4 km away28.4°C
  3. H̱of Yammit3.5 km away28.4°C

Open Coastya ↗

Mountains at the source (38)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Malkishua12 km away536m
  2. Bezeq mountain14 km away713m
  3. Alexander Mountain14 km away527m
  4. Ra's as Sālimah14 km away676m
  5. Ra's ash Sharīfah14 km away620m
  6. Har Barqan10 km away497m
  7. Har Avner12 km away499m
  8. Har Avinadav11 km away440m

30 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Kishon River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Kishon River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 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

Kishon River in pictures

Park Kishon, Haifa 050
Hanay · CC BY-SA 3.0
Park Kishon, Haifa 023
Hanay · CC BY-SA 3.0
Along the Mediterranean coast, southward. River Kishon. between 1950 and 1977. matpc.22997
Matson Photo Service, photographer · Public domain
KishonPortandRiver 01
קודקוד צהוב · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (12)

Also: Tzipori river, Nahal Nesher, Nachal Gdora, Nahal Nachash, Nahal Yagur, Nahal Yokneam, Shofet River, Saadia river, Naẖal ‘Oz, Naẖal Gilboa‘, Nahal Nahalal, Naẖal Zavdon

Nearby

Rivers nearby

YarmukIsraelIsrael57 km2.6 m³/s54 km awayLitani RiverLebanonLebanon140 km23 m³/s61 km awayHasbani RiverLebanonLebanon65 km5.0 m³/s68 km awayJordan RiverJordanJordan252 km52 m³/s144 km awayYarkon RiverIsraelIsrael28 km12 m³/s83 km awayZarqa RiverJordanJordan65 km6.5 m³/s92 km awayNahr al-KalbLebanonLebanon31 km3.2 m³/s137 km awayBaradaSyriaSyria71 km7.3 m³/s163 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1743701) · 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 atlasesCoastya, 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