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River

Mekong River

4,350 km from source to mouth · 6 countries.

VietnamChinaCambodiaLaosMyanmarThailandVietnam, China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and ThailandFlows into South China Sea1st longest in Vietnam

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

4,350km

Average flow

15,000m³/s

Basin

810,000km²

Drop

4,842m

from 4,841 m to -1 m

Countries

6

The journey

From source to mouth

4,350 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 38 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

4,841 m-1 m
Zha'a Quat 4,841 m0 km
Ziqu Rivertributary341 km
Yingpan37,406 people974 km
Weiyuan Rivertributary1,472 km
Yunjinghong205,523 people1,583 km
Nam Outributary2,153 km
Vientiane948,487 people2,565 km
Savannakhet124,000 people2,972 km
Khone Phapheng Falls21 m3,330 km
Phnom Penh1,573,544 people3,676 km
South China Seaat -1 m4,350 km
01,0002,0003,0004,350 km
  1. 0 kmZha'a Quat 4,841 m
  2. 341 kmZiqu Rivertributary
  3. 432 kmNgom Qutributary
  4. 432 kmQamdo86,280 people
  5. 974 kmYingpan37,406 people
  6. 1,206 kmXiaowan Dam
  7. 1,472 kmWeiyuan Rivertributary
  8. 1,583 kmYunjinghong205,523 people
  9. 1,865 kmBan Khoan65,348 people
  10. 1,878 kmKok Rivertributary
  11. 1,921 kmBan Houayxay17,687 people
  12. 1,922 kmChiang Khong14,505 people
  13. 1,926 kmBan Houakhoua15,500 people
  14. 1,929 kmIng Rivertributary
  15. 2,153 kmNam Outributary
  16. 2,173 kmLuang Prabang55,027 people
  17. 2,174 kmNam Khantributary
  18. 2,434 kmHueang Rivertributary
  19. 2,442 kmLoei Rivertributary
  20. 2,565 kmVientiane948,487 people
  21. 2,565 kmSi Chiang Mai14,068 people
  22. 2,576 kmTha Bo35,292 people
  23. 2,595 kmFirst Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge
  24. 2,597 kmNong Khai63,609 people
  25. 2,648 kmNam Ngumtributary
  26. 2,726 kmPakxan21,967 people
  27. 2,751 kmAng Kep Nam Huai Bang Bat2.5 km²
  28. 2,765 kmNam Theuntributary
  29. 2,846 kmSongkhram Rivertributary
  30. 2,885 kmNakhon Phanom34,595 people
  31. 2,887 kmThakhèk70,000 people
  32. 2,933 kmWat Phra That Phanom
  33. 2,934 kmXe Bang Fai Rivertributary
  34. 2,934 kmThat Phanom14,424 people
  35. 2,967 kmSecond Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge
  36. 2,972 kmSavannakhet124,000 people
  37. 2,973 kmMukdahan40,480 people
  38. 3,049 kmBanghiang Rivertributary
  39. 3,164 kmMun Rivertributary
  40. 3,201 kmPakse77,900 people
  41. 3,202 kmXé Dôntributary
  42. 3,227 kmChampasak12,994 people
  43. 3,232 kmVat Phou
  44. 3,307 kmMuang Không15,000 people
  45. 3,330 kmKhone Phapheng Falls21 m
  46. 3,377 kmStung Treng25,000 people
  47. 3,378 kmTonlé Santributary
  48. 3,492 kmKratié19,975 people
  49. 3,505 kmPreaek Prasab64,466 people
  50. 3,558 kmBœ̆ng Prôhéar0.3 km²
  51. 3,576 kmBeng Tuol Anteas0.5 km²
  52. 3,588 kmPhumĭ Âmpĭl Leu16,110 people
  53. 3,590 kmKampong Cham118,242 people
  54. 3,591 kmBœ̆ng Ânsaông0.9 km²
  55. 3,639 kmBeng Khpop0.4 km²
  56. 3,643 kmBeng Kebal Krabey0.6 km²
  57. 3,676 kmPhnom Penh1,573,544 people
  58. 3,676 kmTonle Sap Rivertributary
  59. 3,680 kmVeal Sbov14,481 people
  60. 3,773 kmTân Châu175,211 people
  61. 3,778 kmẤp Long Thạnh34,198 people
  62. 3,783 kmHồng Ngự101,155 people
  63. 3,805 kmKiến An28,333 people
  64. 3,828 kmLong Xuyên286,140 people
  65. 3,843 kmThốt Nốt158,225 people
  66. 3,848 kmLai Vung80,649 people
  67. 3,871 kmBình Thủy113,565 people
  68. 3,878 kmBình Minh94,862 people
  69. 3,878 kmCần Thơ1,507,187 people
  70. 4,350 kmSouth China Seaat -1 m

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

Major river in Southeast Asia

At the mouth it carries 15,000 m³/s on average: 6.0 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 4,841 m to -1 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 810,000 km², about the size of PK. 53.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.0% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Phnom PenhLargest city on its banks · 1,573,544 people
  • Techo International Airport (KTI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 22 km from the city
  • On the water334 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe4 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From November to MarchThe best months to visit

Mekong River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to March.

5,200
14°8 mmJan
2,600
16°15 mmFeb
2,400
18°28 mmMar
3,800
21°61 mmApr
9,300
22°153 mmMay
16,900
23°201 mmJun
26,700
23°256 mmJul
34,900
23°256 mmAug
36,800
22°203 mmSep
31,500
20°106 mmOct
21,600
17°37 mmNov
12,000
14°12 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 2,400 m³/s in the lowest month to 36,800 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 in VietnamDiscover 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

Mekong River: the basin in numbers

774,281 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 4.0% of a year's flow.
  • 53.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 70/km²people per km²
  • 960maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,535mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 21.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 18%protected areas
  • 0.8%covered by lakes
  • 3%permafrost
  • 19km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 22% Forest
  • 18% Cropland
  • 13% Pasture
  • 2% 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

Mekong River: what you find on the way

  • 62DamsGuoduo dam, Jinhe, Wunonglong Hydropower Station and 59 more
  • 16Weirs
  • 1Locks
  • 24WaterfallsHoi Khua Waterfall, Than Thong Waterfall, Wang Nam Mok Waterfall and 21 more
  • 4Rapids
  • 7Boat ramps
  • 307Ferry piersGuanlei Port, Golden Triangle Port, Boat to Thailand (only for locals) and 304 more
  • 19MarinasBến Kho, Bến du thuyền Cần Thơ and 17 more
  • 1Boat rentals
  • 7River beachesSida Beach, Mano Phirom Beach, Donxeng Beach and 4 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Mekong 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.

  • 1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
  • 6lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 1island off the mouthIslandyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Khone Phapheng Fallskm 3,69721m

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (6)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Ang Kep Nam Huai Bang Batkm 3,0552.5km²
  2. Bœ̆ng Prôhéarkm 3,9510.3km²
  3. Beng Tuol Anteaskm 3,9700.5km²
  4. Bœ̆ng Ânsaôngkm 3,9870.9km²
  5. Beng Khpopkm 4,0400.4km²
  6. Beng Kebal Krabeykm 4,0450.6km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Islands off the mouth (1)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Cù Lao Tròn8.0 km away106km²

Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Mekong River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Mekong River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth120 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

Mekong River in pictures

Bank Erosion at Song Tien of Mekong, Binh Dai, Ben Tre, Vietnam
Unknown author · CC0
Chiang Saen, Mekong River, Thailand
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Boats on the Mekong bank with clouds and blue sky in the late afternoon in Luang Prabang Laos
Basile Morin · CC BY-SA 4.0
Boats on the Mekong with dark clouds and blue sky in the late afternoon in Luang Prabang Laos
Basile Morin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (23)

Mun RiverThailandThailand673 km720 m³/sjoins at km 3,513Nam OuLaosLaos448 km390 m³/sjoins at km 2,391Tonlé SanCambodiaCambodia372 km2,900 m³/sjoins at km 3,750Nam NgumLaosLaos354 km670 m³/sjoins at km 2,940Kok RiverLaosLaos285 km2,800 m³/sjoins at km 2,085Tonle Sap RiverCambodiaCambodia112 km1,600 m³/sjoins at km 4,082

Also: Ruak River, Tha River, Ing River, Songkhram River, Nam Khan, Nam Theun, Xé Dôn, Banghiang River, Hueang River, Xe Bang Fai River, Ngom Qu, Loei River, Ziqu River, Weiyuan River, Za Qu (rdza chu) of Lancang, Yongchun River, Tongdian River

In the same basin

Chi RiverThailandThailand765 km290 m³/sSekong RiverCambodiaCambodia475 km5,400 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Saigon RiverVietnamVietnam256 km54 m³/s136 km awayDong Nai RiverVietnamVietnam586 km1,100 m³/s136 km awayTonle Sap RiverCambodiaCambodia112 km1,600 m³/s259 km awaySekong RiverCambodiaCambodia475 km5,400 m³/s439 km awayTonlé SanCambodiaCambodia372 km2,900 m³/s438 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q41179) · 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, 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.

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