River
New River
132 km from source to mouth · Belize.
BelizeFlows into Caribbean Sea2nd longest in Belize
In numbers
Length
132km
Average flow
25m³/s
Basin
1,783km²
Drop
27m
from 27 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
132 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 27 m
- 29 kmCrabcatcher Lagoon1.3 km²
- 42 kmNew River Lagoon13 km²
- 70 kmGuinea Grass3,821 people
- 78 kmCarmelita1,936 people
- 85 kmSan Jose Palmar2,146 people
- 88 kmOrange Walk15,298 people
- 90 kmTrial Farm5,850 people
- 99 kmSan Estevan2,115 people
- 111 kmCaledonia1,373 people
- 127 kmFour Mile Lagoon1.5 km²
- 132 kmCaribbean Seaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in northern Belize
At the mouth it carries 25 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 99 seconds. It drops from 27 m to 0 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,783 km², about the size of GP. 20,000 people live in it. Highest water: from September to October; lowest: from February to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Orange WalkLargest city on its banks · 15,298 people
- Corozal Airport (CZH)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 37 km from the cityCar hire at BZE airport (Belize City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From January to AprilThe best months to visit
New River, month by month
Highest water: from September to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from January to April.
From about 9.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 46 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
New River: the basin in numbers
1,783 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 20,000people live in the basin
- 11/km²people per km²
- 25maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,626mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.2°Caverage air temperature
- 22%protected areas
- 1.2%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 58% Forest
- 14% Cropland
- 6% 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
New River: what you find on the way
- 1Boat ramps
- 6Ferry piersLamanai Outpost, Pueblo Nuevo and 4 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
New 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Crabcatcher Lagoonkm 251.3km²
- New River Lagoonkm 3613km²
- Four Mile Lagoonkm 1101.5km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
New River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (10)
Also: John Piles Creek, Pembroke Hall Branch, Poor Hall Creek, Backlanding Creek, Coffin Gate Creek, Harry Jones Creek, Big Pond Creek, Big Pond Creek, Dawson Creek, Doctor Creek
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Mexico150 km130 m³/s17 km awayBelize RiverBelize290 km200 m³/s90 km awayMopan RiverBelize38 km93 m³/s149 km awayMotagua River
Guatemala486 km310 m³/s292 km awayUlúa River
Honduras358 km440 m³/s279 km awayDulce RiverGuatemala43 km340 m³/s293 km awayPasión RiverGuatemala353 km320 m³/s310 km awayGrijalva RiverMexico480 km2,800 m³/s453 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q430344) · 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 — 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
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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