River
Río Negro
916 km from source to mouth · Uruguay and Brazil.
Uruguay and BrazilFlows into Uruguay River3rd longest in Uruguay
In numbers
Length
916km
Average flow
650m³/s
Basin
70,714km²
Drop
170m
from 169 m to -1 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
916 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 169 m
- 203 kmArroyo Fraile Muertotributary
- 300 kmTacuarembó Rivertributary
- 335 kmArroyo Malotributary
- 467 kmRincón del Bonete Lake718 km²
- 492 kmPaso de los Toros12,985 people
- 530 kmArroyo Salsipuedes Grandetributary
- 556 kmBaygorria161 people
- 664 kmYí Rivertributary
- 667 kmArroyo Grandetributary
- 713 kmEmbalse de Paso del Palmar221 km²
- 714 kmPalmar Dam
- 729 kmArroyo Don Esteban Grandetributary
- 830 kmMercedes43,543 people
- 916 kmUruguay Riverat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Uruguay
At the mouth it carries 650 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.8 seconds. It drops from 169 m to -1 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 70,714 km², about the size of IE. 503,000 people live in it. Highest water: from April to July. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (48% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- MercedesLargest city on its banks · 43,543 people
- Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 150 km from the cityCar hire at AEP airport (Buenos Aires)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- February, May, September and from November to DecemberThe best months to visit
Río Negro, month by month
Highest water: from April to July
Best months to visit: February, May, September and from November to December.
From about 560 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,400 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 Negro: the basin in numbers
71,072 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 503,000people live in the basin
- 7/km²people per km²
- 132maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,224mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 17.6°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 1.6%covered by lakes
- 15km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 7% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 80% 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
Río Negro: what you find on the way
- 4Boat rampsPuerto de Pescadores and 3 more
- 2Ferry piers
- 1Marinas
- 3River beachesPlaya la picada, Playa el sauce, Playa santa isabel
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Río Negro 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
1island off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Rincón del Bonete Lakekm 384718km²
- Embalse de Paso del Palmarkm 586221km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Serra das Correias14 km away
Islands off the mouth (1)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Isla Vizcaíno4.0 km away
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
Río Negro in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Uruguay RiverUruguay1,790 km4.6 m³/sTributaries (25)
Also: Tacuarembó River, Arroyo Grande, Arroyo Don Esteban Grande, Arroyo Fraile Muerto, Arroyo Grande, Arroyo Bequeló, Arroyo Cololó, Arroyo del Cordobés, Arroyo Malo, Palleros River, Arroyo de Vera, Arroyo Salsipuedes Grande, Arroyo Cardozo, Arroyo Coladeras, Arroyo Marincho, Arroyo Rolón, Arroyo Yapeyú, Arroyo de las Maulas, Arroyo Lechiguana, Arroyo Carpintería, Arroyo Tres Árboles, Arroyo de Clara, Arroyo del Hospital, Arroyo Dacá
ArgentinaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q859548) · 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, 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.
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit