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River

Rienz

80 km from source to mouth · Italy.

ItalyItalyFlows into Eisack

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

80km

Average flow

60m³/s

Basin

2,143km²

Drop

647m

from 1,208 m to 561 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

80 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 16 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,208 m561 m
Tre Cime di Lavaredoat 1,208 m0 km
Dobbiaco2,373 people11 km
Villabassa1,390 people15 km
Rasun Anterselva - Rasen-Antholz2,700 people28 km
Valdaora di Mezzo1,668 people29 km
Brunico12,282 people40 km
Ahrtributary41 km
Cascate di Vandoies60 km
Vandoies - Vintl3,108 people61 km
Eisackat 561 m80 km
020406080 km
  1. 0 kmTre Cime di Lavaredoat 1,208 m
  2. 11 kmDobbiaco2,373 people
  3. 15 kmVillabassa1,390 people
  4. 22 kmMonguelfo1,450 people
  5. 28 kmRasun Anterselva - Rasen-Antholz2,700 people
  6. 29 kmValdaora di Mezzo1,668 people
  7. 37 kmRiscone1,602 people
  8. 40 kmBrunico12,282 people
  9. 41 kmAhrtributary
  10. 43 kmSan Lorenzo di Sebato1,221 people
  11. 55 kmTerento1,121 people
  12. 60 kmCascate di Vandoies
  13. 61 kmVandoies - Vintl3,108 people
  14. 64 kmRodengo1,170 people
  15. 66 kmRio di Pusteria1,151 people
  16. 69 kmNaz-Sciaves - Natz-Schabs2,430 people
  17. 70 kmRodengo - Rodeneck1,157 people
  18. 79 kmLeone-Santa Elisabetta1,041 people
  19. 79 kmBressanone15,868 people
  20. 80 kmEisackat 561 m

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

River in Northern Italy

At the mouth it carries 60 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 42 seconds. It drops from 1,208 m to 561 m, 8.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,143 km², about the size of KM. 116,000 people live in it. Highest water: March and August; lowest: from December to February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • BressanoneLargest city on its banks · 15,868 people
  • Bolzano Airport (BZO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 38 km from the cityCar hire at BZO airport (Bolzano)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Rienz, month by month

Highest water: March and August

Lowest water: from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to September.

16
-4°36 mmJan
9.6
-2°36 mmFeb
110
2°41 mmMar
87
6°56 mmApr
82
10°88 mmMay
84
14°104 mmJun
100
16°123 mmJul
100
15°116 mmAug
86
12°79 mmSep
72
7°64 mmOct
71
2°63 mmNov
34
-2°37 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 9.6 m³/s in the lowest month to 110 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

Rienz: the basin in numbers

2,880 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 116,000people live in the basin
  • 40/km²people per km²
  • 1,838maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,021mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 2.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 19%protected areas
  • 6%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 70% Forest
  • 7% Cropland
  • 6% Pasture
  • 1% 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

Rienz: what you find on the way

  • 2DamsStaumauer Mühlbach - Diga di Rio di Pusteria
  • 176Weirs
  • 11WaterfallsWasserfall Toblacher See - Cascata Lago di Dobbiaco and 10 more
  • 1Boat ramps

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Rienz 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
  • 86mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Cascate di Vandoieskm 55

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Mountains at the source (86)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Dolomites11 km away3,343m
  2. Monte Cristallo9.9 km away · prominence 1,412 m3,221m
  3. Hohe Gaisl13 km away · prominence 1,133 m3,146m
  4. Dreischusterspitze4.5 km away · prominence 1,393 m3,145m
  5. Zwölferkofel4.9 km away · prominence 713 m3,094m
  6. Elferkofel6.1 km away · prominence 661 m3,092m
  7. Piz Popena9.4 km away · prominence 344 m3,152m
  8. Birkenkofel6.2 km away · prominence 391 m2,922m

78 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

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

Rienz in pictures

RienzDownstreamIT
user:Alex1011 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bij Taufers, de Ahr (zijrivier van de Rienz) IMG 1232 2019-08-04 15.49
Michielverbeek · CC BY-SA 4.0
Panorama della Rienza da Rodengo
Llorenzi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Rienzbrücke Bruneck
Rainerhaufe · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (8)

Also: Gran Ega, Ahr, Antholzer Bach, Gsieser Bach, Pragser Bach, Pfunderer Bach, Lasanke, Valler Bach

In the same basin

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q279908) · 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, 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