River
Río Frío
428 km from source to mouth · Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Nicaragua and Costa RicaFlows into Lake Nicaragua2nd longest in Nicaragua
In numbers
Length
428km
Average flow
380m³/s
Basin
29,843km²
Drop
683m
from 714 m to 31 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
428 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmVolcán Tenorioat 714 m
- 166 kmLake Managua1,061 km²
- 167 kmTipitapa50,000 people
- 199 kmLaguna de Tisma13 km²
- 210 kmLa Playuela1.3 km²
- 222 kmGranada89,409 people
- 273 kmLaguna Ñocarime2.8 km²
- 291 kmSan Jorge7,158 people
- 419 kmLake Nicaragua7,833 km²
- 419 kmSan Carlos13,451 people
- 428 kmLake Nicaraguaat 31 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, ending in Lago di Nicaragua
At the mouth it carries 376 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.6 seconds. It drops from 714 m to 31 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 29,843 km², about the size of AM. 2.3 million people live in it. Highest water: October; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- GranadaLargest city on its banks · 89,409 people
- Augusto C. Sandino (Managua) International Airport (MGA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 33 km from the cityCar hire at MGA airport (Managua)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Río Frío, month by month
Highest water: October
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to February.
From about 140 m³/s in the lowest month to 760 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
Río Frío: the basin in numbers
29,843 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 81/km²people per km²
- 179maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,690mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.8°Caverage air temperature
- 23%protected areas
- 29.9%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 27% Forest
- 31% Cropland
- 56% 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
Río Frío: what you find on the way
- 1Boat ramps
- 6Ferry piersMuelle de Granada, San Jorge, Empresa Nacional de Puertos and 3 more
- 4MarinasCabaña Amarilla, Puerto Lacustre de San Jorge, Muelle de San Jorge and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Río Frío 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.
5lakes on its wayLakeyas
9mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (5)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Managuakm 166 · 80 m deep1,061km²
- Laguna de Tismakm 19913km²
- La Playuelakm 2101.3km²
- Laguna Ñocarimekm 2732.8km²
- Lake Nicaraguakm 419 · 60 m deep7,833km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (9)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Tomabú14 km away1,427m
- Cerro El Carao5.7 km away1,343m
- Cerro La Laguna8.2 km away1,339m
- Cerro Moropotente4.9 km away1,304m
- Mesas Moropotente13 km away1,299m
- Cerro Zaraguasca13 km away1,269m
- Cerro Abismo14 km away1,250m
- Cerro La Campana13 km away1,195m
1 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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
Río Frío in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
In the same basin
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Nicaragua192 km530 m³/s69 km awayTárcoles RiverCosta Rica111 km100 m³/s149 km awayReventazón RiverCosta Rica145 km220 m³/s174 km awayRío Grande de MatagalpaNicaragua465 km600 m³/s239 km awaySixaola RiverCosta Rica146 km160 m³/s296 km awayCoco River
Honduras780 km760 m³/s463 km awayGoascorán River
El Salvador130 km33 m³/s424 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q5506742) · 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 | Lakeyas, 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
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