River
Nakdong River
506 km from source to mouth · South Korea.
South KoreaFlows into Pacific Ocean1st longest in South Korea
In numbers
Length
506km
Average flow
300m³/s
Basin
23,384km²
Drop
268m
from 266 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
506 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 266 m
- 25 kmMui-p'okp'o
- 97 kmAndong Dam
- 97 kmLake Andong59 km²
- 102 kmAndong153,348 people
- 276 kmWaegwan29,691 people
- 310 kmHwawŏn64,718 people
- 312 kmGeumho Rivertributary
- 325 km88 Nakdong river bridge
- 407 kmNam Rivertributary
- 460 kmSamnangjin Railroad Bridge
- 503 kmGupo Bridge
- 503 kmSeobusannakdonggang Bridge
- 506 kmPacific Oceanat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in South Korea
At the mouth it carries 297 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.4 seconds. It drops from 266 m to -2 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 23,384 km², about the size of DJ. 6.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (35% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- AndongLargest city on its banks · 153,348 people
- Daegu International Airport (TAE)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 75 km from the cityCar hire at PUS airport (Busan)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- May and OctoberThe best months to visit
Nakdong River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: May and October.
From about 71 m³/s in the lowest month to 770 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
Nakdong River: the basin in numbers
23,295 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 6.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 273/km²people per km²
- 298maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,244mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 11.5°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 3.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 53% Forest
- 18% Cropland
- 6% 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
Nakdong River: what you find on the way
- 14Weirs
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Nakdong 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
1lake on its wayLakeyas
4beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
14mountains at the sourcePeakyas
5islands off the mouthIslandyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Mui-p'okp'okm 20
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Andongkm 7759km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (4)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Ilgwanghaesuyokjang23 km away26.0°C
- Gwangallihaesuyokjang13 km away26.1°C
- Haeundaehaesuyokjang16 km away26.1°C
- Songjeonghaesuyokjang19 km away26.1°C
Mountains at the source (14)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Ullyon-san8.9 km away
- Osip-pong7.5 km away
- Paegam-san13 km away
- Kumjang-san15 km away
- Hungnin-San6.5 km away
- Nichiketsuzan9.7 km away
- Chu-san15 km away
- P'yodae-san9.2 km away
6 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (5)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Oryukdo18 km away0.0km²
- Gadeokdo24 km away19km²
- Dongbaek Island16 km away
- Eulsukdo13 km away
- Yeongdo16 km away11km²
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
Nakdong River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Nam River, Geumho River, Hwang River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q55501) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas, 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.



