River
Río San Juan
192 km from source to mouth · Nicaragua.
NicaraguaFlows into Caribbean Sea3rd longest in Nicaragua
In numbers
Length
192km
Average flow
530m³/s
Basin
35,000km²
Drop
9m
from 31 m to 22 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
192 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Nicaraguaat 31 m
- 104 kmLake Nicaragua7,833 km²
- 105 kmSan Carlos37,461 people
- 108 kmRío Fríotributary
- 153 kmRío Pocosoltributary
- 192 kmRío San Carlostributary
- 192 kmCaribbean Seaat 22 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Nicaragua, connecting Lake Nicaragua with the Caribbean Sea
At the mouth it carries 534 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.7 seconds. Its basin covers 35,000 km², about the size of TW. 2.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from August 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
- San CarlosLargest city on its banks · 37,461 people
- La Fortuna Arenal Airport (FON)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 76 km from the cityCar hire at LIR airport (Liberia)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water12 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From January to MarchThe best months to visit
Río San Juan, month by month
Highest water: from August to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from January to March.
From about 220 m³/s in the lowest month to 850 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 San Juan: the basin in numbers
33,259 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 75/km²people per km²
- 171maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,825mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.8°Caverage air temperature
- 27%protected areas
- 26.9%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 32% Forest
- 29% Cropland
- 55% 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 San Juan: what you find on the way
- 2RapidsRaudal del Diablo, Rápido Batas
- 12Ferry piersSan Carlos, Boca de Sabalos, Muelle de El Castillo and 9 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 San Juan 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.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Nicaraguakm 120 · 60 m deep7,833km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro La Campana15 km away374m
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 San Juan in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Sarapiquí River, Río San Carlos, Río Pocosol
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Nicaragua428 km380 m³/s69 km awayReventazón River
Costa Rica145 km220 m³/s105 km awayTárcoles RiverCosta Rica111 km100 m³/s122 km awaySixaola RiverCosta Rica146 km160 m³/s227 km awayRío Grande de MatagalpaNicaragua465 km600 m³/s246 km awayCoco River
Honduras780 km760 m³/s480 km awayGoascorán River
El Salvador130 km33 m³/s492 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1161204) · 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
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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 
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