River
Napo River
1,130 km from source to mouth · Peru and Ecuador.
Peru and EcuadorFlows into Amazon River3rd longest in Peru
In numbers
Length
1,130km
Average flow
7,100m³/s
Basin
115,000km²
Drop
3,491m
from 3,569 m to 78 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
1,130 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmCotopaxi volcanoat 3,569 m
- 123 kmMisahuallí Rivertributary
- 221 kmBoca Suno20,313 people
- 257 kmPuerto Francisco de Orellana48,144 people
- 260 kmCoca Rivertributary
- 260 kmPayamino Rivertributary
- 459 kmTiputini Rivertributary
- 480 kmYasuní Rivertributary
- 505 kmAguarico Rivertributary
- 754 kmCuraray Rivertributary
- 1,130 kmAmazon Riverat 78 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Tributary of the Amazon in Ecuador and Peru
At the mouth it carries 7,148 m³/s on average: 2.9 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 3,569 m to 78 m, 3.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 115,000 km², about the size of BJ. 470,000 people live in it. Highest water: from May to August. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Puerto Francisco de OrellanaLargest city on its banks · 48,144 people
- Francisco De Orellana Airport (OCC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 2 km from the cityCar hire at UIO airport (Quito)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water19 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From April to AugustThe best months to visit
Napo River, month by month
Highest water: from May to August
Best months to visit: from April to August.
From about 5,100 m³/s in the lowest month to 9,100 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
Napo River: the basin in numbers
102,647 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 470,000people live in the basin
- 5/km²people per km²
- 542maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,958mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.8°Caverage air temperature
- 30%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 84% Forest
- 4% Cropland
- 10% Pasture
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
Napo River: what you find on the way
- 30WaterfallsTsuyuyacu, Pimpilala, Shandia and 27 more
- 2Canoe put-insWayusa, bridge above Talag
- 10Boat rampsPuerto Pompeya Norte, Puerto Pompeya Sur, Puerto Itaya and 7 more
- 7Ferry piersPompeya Sur, Puerto Chiroisla PAM, Puerto Chiroisla and 4 more
- 2Marinas
- 4River beachesRiver Beach, Playa de los Monos and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Napo 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.
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Quilindaña10 km away4,878m
- Cerro Quilindaña10 km away
- Predicador6.9 km away
- Cerro Laurel11 km away
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
Napo River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Amazon River
Brazil6,400 km209,000 m³/sTributaries (9)
Also: Aguarico River, Curaray River, Yasuní River, Tiputini River, Payamino River, Misahuallí River, Jatunyacu River, Anzu River
In the same basin
Brazil2,250 km30,000 m³/sMadeira RiverBrazil1,450 km31,200 m³/sMarañón RiverPeru1,737 km16,700 m³/sUcayali RiverPeru1,460 km12,600 m³/sJapurá RiverBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/sXingu RiverBrazil1,640 km9,700 m³/sMamoré RiverBrazil1,930 km11,600 m³/sJuruá RiverBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/sTapajós RiverBrazil1,930 km13,000 m³/sPutumayo RiverBrazil1,610 km7,000 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q849480) · 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 | 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?
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