River
Lielupe
119 km from source to mouth · Latvia.
LatviaFlows into Gulf of Riga6th longest in Latvia
In numbers
Length
119km
Average flow
110m³/s
Basin
17,600km²
Drop
21m
from 19 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
119 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmBauskaat 19 m
- 9 kmBauska9,566 people
- 23 kmMūšatributary
- 23 kmNemunėlistributary
- 32 kmĪslīcetributary
- 37 kmEmburga326 people
- 51 kmSvitenetributary
- 57 kmSesavatributary
- 58 kmVirčiuvistributary
- 60 kmJelgava54,834 people
- 70 kmIecava Rivertributary
- 70 kmŠvėtėtributary
- 77 kmCelmraugciems119 people
- 81 kmKalnciems1,644 people
- 87 kmTīreļi2,103 people
- 100 kmAklais Ezers0.4 km²
- 101 kmLake Sloka2.5 km²
- 114 kmJūrmala52,001 people
- 117 kmBabīte22 km²
- 119 kmGulf of Rigaat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Latvia
At the mouth it carries 106 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 24 seconds. It drops from 19 m to -2 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 17,600 km², about the size of KW. 578,000 people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from January to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- JelgavaLargest city on its banks · 54,834 people
- Riga International Airport (RIX)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 34 km from the cityCar hire at RIX airport (Riga)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water23 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Lielupe, month by month
Highest water: from April to June
Lowest water: from January to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from January to February. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 62 m³/s in the lowest month to 390 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
Lielupe: the basin in numbers
17,503 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 578,000people live in the basin
- 33/km²people per km²
- 60maverage altitude of the basin
- 636mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 6.1°Caverage air temperature
- 8%protected areas
- 0.5%covered by lakes
- 0.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 21% Forest
- 53% Cropland
- 6% Pasture
- 1% 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
Lielupe: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 1Rapidskrāce
- 15Boat ramps
- 6MarinasVarkaļu osta, Jahtklubs Lielupe and 4 more
- 2River beaches
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Lielupe 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
2beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Aklais Ezerskm 98 · 1 m deep0.4km²
- Lake Slokakm 99 · 2 m deep2.5km²
- Babītekm 114 · 2 m deep22km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Jurmala Beach13 km away18.6°C
- Vecaki beach20 km away18.6°C
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Buļļu sala11 km away13km²
- Mīlestības Saliņa15 km away
Islandyas 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
Lielupe in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (12)
Also: Mūša, Švėtė, Iecava River, Virčiuvis, Īslīce, Svitene, Platone, Sesava, Spuņņupe, Driksa, Vecslocene
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Latvia1,020 km680 m³/s16 km awayGaujaLatvia453 km71 m³/s33 km awayNemunėlisLatvia191 km95 m³/s57 km awayOgre RiverLatvia203 km18 m³/s49 km awaySalacaLatvia99 km31 m³/s92 km awayVentaLatvia346 km96 m³/s147 km awayAivieksteLatvia114 km1.8 m³/s122 km awayPärnu River
Estonia145 km48 m³/s161 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q215395) · 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, Coastya, 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
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
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
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit