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River

Limmat

140 km from source to mouth · Switzerland.

SwitzerlandSwitzerlandFlows into Aare3rd longest in Switzerland

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

140km

Average flow

100m³/s

Basin

2,416km²

Drop

551m

from 881 m to 330 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

140 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 59 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

881 m330 m
Lake Zurichat 881 m0 km
Sihlsee9.9 km²8 km
Samstagern3,163 people18 km
Oberrieden4,413 people37 km
Langnau am Albis7,000 people40 km
Zürich415,367 people49 km
Zurich452,421 people50 km
Dietikon26,936 people62 km
Geroldswil4,918 people64 km
Baden23,853 people75 km
Aareat 330 m82 km
020406082 km
  1. 0 kmLake Zurichat 881 m
  2. 8 kmSihlsee9.9 km²
  3. 12 kmFeusisberg4,210 people
  4. 15 kmSchindellegi3,174 people
  5. 18 kmSamstagern3,163 people
  6. 37 kmOberrieden4,413 people
  7. 39 kmLangnau / Langnau (Dorf)4,745 people
  8. 40 kmLangnau am Albis7,000 people
  9. 40 kmThalwil13,296 people
  10. 40 kmThalwil / Dorfkern6,829 people
  11. 41 kmRüschlikon4,653 people
  12. 43 kmAdliswil15,230 people
  13. 44 kmKilchberg6,511 people
  14. 46 kmZürich (Kreis 2)29,215 people
  15. 46 kmZürich (Kreis 2) / Wollishofen16,073 people
  16. 47 kmZürich (Kreis 3)46,018 people
  17. 48 kmZürich (Kreis 2) / Enge8,253 people
  18. 49 kmZürich (Kreis 3) / Alt-Wiedikon14,931 people
  19. 49 kmZürich (Kreis 3) / Friesenberg9,909 people
  20. 49 kmLake Zurich83 km²
  21. 49 kmZürich415,367 people
  22. 49 kmFrauenbad Stadthausquai
  23. 50 kmMünsterbrücke
  24. 50 kmZürich (Kreis 1)6,185 people
  25. 50 kmZürich (Kreis 1) / Rathaus3,091 people
  26. 50 kmZürich (Kreis 4) / Werd3,911 people
  27. 50 kmRathausbrücke
  28. 50 kmZürich (Kreis 3) / Sihlfeld20,977 people
  29. 50 kmZurich452,421 people
  30. 50 kmZürich (Kreis 4) / Aussersihl27,273 people
  31. 50 kmZürich (Kreis 4) / Langstrasse10,386 people
  32. 51 kmZürich (Kreis 4) / Hard12,976 people
  33. 51 kmZürich (Kreis 5) / Gewerbeschule9,891 people
  34. 52 kmZürich (Kreis 5)11,737 people
  35. 52 kmZürich (Kreis 6) / Oberstrass9,906 people
  36. 52 kmSihltributary
  37. 52 kmReppischtributary
  38. 52 kmZürich (Kreis 6)29,951 people
  39. 52 kmZürich (Kreis 6) / Unterstrass20,045 people
  40. 52 kmZürich (Kreis 10) / Wipkingen15,718 people
  41. 54 kmZürich (Kreis 10)36,216 people
  42. 54 kmZürich (Kreis 10) / Höngg17,117 people
  43. 55 kmZürich (Kreis 9)44,878 people
  44. 55 kmZürich (Kreis 9) / Altstetten28,307 people
  45. 55 kmHöngg Power Station
  46. 56 kmZürich (Kreis 10) / Rütihof3,326 people
  47. 57 kmOberengstringen6,569 people
  48. 58 kmUnterengstringen3,880 people
  49. 59 kmWeiningen4,760 people
  50. 59 kmSchlieren18,731 people
  51. 61 kmUrdorf9,205 people
  52. 61 kmDietikon / Hofacker2,826 people
  53. 62 kmDietikon / Oberdorf4,147 people
  54. 62 kmDietikon26,936 people
  55. 64 kmGeroldswil4,918 people
  56. 65 kmOetwil an der Limmat2,553 people
  57. 66 kmSpreitenbach12,587 people
  58. 68 kmWürenlos6,931 people
  59. 69 kmKillwangen2,304 people
  60. 70 kmNeuenhof9,212 people
  61. 71 kmFurtbachtributary
  62. 72 kmWettingen21,856 people
  63. 73 kmDättwil3,500 people
  64. 75 kmBaden23,853 people
  65. 75 kmEnnetbaden3,703 people
  66. 77 kmObersiggenthal8,966 people
  67. 79 kmGebenstorf5,807 people
  68. 81 kmUntersiggenthal7,812 people
  69. 81 kmTurgi3,157 people
  70. 82 kmAareat 330 m

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

River in Switzerland

At the mouth it carries 101 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 25 seconds. It drops from 881 m to 330 m, 3.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,416 km², about the size of RE. 885,000 people live in it. Highest water: from June to August. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (14% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • ZurichLargest city on its banks · 452,421 people
  • Zürich Airport (ZRH)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the cityCar hire at ZRH airport (Zurich)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water54 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Limmat, month by month

Highest water: from June to August

Best months to visit: from June to September.

82
0°68 mmJan
72
1°68 mmFeb
56
5°69 mmMar
74
8°88 mmApr
96
12°105 mmMay
130
16°127 mmJun
120
18°117 mmJul
150
17°131 mmAug
98
14°87 mmSep
50
10°66 mmOct
76
4°80 mmNov
88
1°73 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 50 m³/s in the lowest month to 150 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 ZRH airport (Zurich)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

Limmat: the basin in numbers

2,407 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 14% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 885,000people live in the basin
  • 397/km²people per km²
  • 1,133maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,363mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 5.9°Caverage air temperature
  • 10%protected areas
  • 5.1%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 1%permafrost
  • 0.4km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 70% Forest
  • 14% Cropland
  • 27% Pasture
  • 21% Towns and cities
  • 1% Ice

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

Limmat: what you find on the way

  • 7DamsEtzelstrasse, Hühnermattdamm, Staumauer Sihlsee and 4 more
  • 47WeirsMesswehr Geissboden, Einlaufbauwerk (Schlauchwehr), Eiswehr Brunau and 44 more
  • 12WaterfallsReppisch-Wasserfall and 11 more
  • 1RapidsUnterer Letten
  • 19Boat rampsAuswasserungsstelle Höngger Wehr, Einwasserungsstelle Neuenhof and 17 more
  • 18Ferry piersSteinbach, Nügüetli, Willerzell and 15 more
  • 13MarinasOberrieden, Seepolizei, Wollishofen and 10 more
  • 4Boat rentalsBootsvermietung Rytz+Kreuzer, Bootsvermietung Enge, Lago and 1 more
  • 2River beachesTränkibödeli

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Limmat 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
  • 22mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Sihlseekm 8 · 23 m deep9.9km²
  2. Lake Zurichkm 49 · 136 m deep83km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (22)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Üetliberg4.4 km away · prominence 143 m869m
  2. Albis9.7 km away915m
  3. Pfannenstiel13 km away · prominence 333 m853m
  4. Bürglen12 km away · prominence 375 m915m
  5. Zürichberg2.8 km away676m
  6. Adlisberg3.7 km away · prominence 77 m701m
  7. Felsenegg6.9 km away804m
  8. Zimmerberg11 km away769m

14 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Limmat: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Limmat: 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

Limmat in pictures

Grossmünster and Limmat River, Zurich, 20250330 1239 7929
Jakub Hałun · CC BY 4.0
Grossmünster and Limmat River, Zurich, 20250330 1239 7931
Jakub Hałun · CC BY 4.0
Limmat River
Chris Brown · CC BY 2.0
Platzspitz Sihl Limmat
de:Benutzer:Albinfo · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

AareSwitzerlandSwitzerland295 km560 m³/s

Tributaries (7)

Also: Sihl, Reppisch, Furtbach, Gottesgraben, Schäflibach, Fürtlibach, Länggenbach

In the same basin

RhineThe NetherlandsThe Netherlands1,233 km2,200 m³/sMoselleGermanyGermany544 km320 m³/sMainGermanyGermany524 km200 m³/sNeckarGermanyGermany362 km140 m³/sLahnGermanyGermany242 km54 m³/sRuhrGermanyGermany217 km79 m³/sSaarGermanyGermany246 km78 m³/sLippeGermanyGermany255 km240 m³/sReussSwitzerlandSwitzerland159 km130 m³/sIllFranceFrance217 km54 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

ReussSwitzerlandSwitzerland159 km130 m³/s0 km awayThurSwitzerlandSwitzerland135 km47 m³/s29 km awayBregGermanyGermany49 km9.7 m³/s54 km awayLinthSwitzerlandSwitzerland37 km55 m³/s60 km awaySaane/SarineSwitzerlandSwitzerland126 km54 m³/s90 km awayIllAustriaAustria72 km210 m³/s103 km awayIllFranceFrance217 km54 m³/s136 km awayVorderrheinSwitzerlandSwitzerland76 km58 m³/s117 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q14338) · 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 atlasesLakeyas, 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