River
Sado River
180 km from source to mouth · Portugal.
PortugalFlows into Atlantic Ocean8th longest in Portugal
In numbers
Length
180km
Average flow
40m³/s
Basin
7,640km²
Drop
131m
from 131 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
180 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 131 m
- 11 kmQuinta Nova Railway Bridge
- 63 kmErmidas2,020 people
- 93 kmSanta Margarida do Sado Bridge
- 117 kmRibeira de Odivelastributary
- 129 kmXarrama Rivertributary
- 160 kmRibeira das Alcáçovastributary
- 163 kmAlcácer do Sal9,198 people
- 164 kmAlcácer do Sal railway bridge
- 180 kmAtlantic Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Portugal
At the mouth it carries 40 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 62 seconds. It drops from 131 m to 0 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 7,640 km², about the size of PR. 129,000 people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from June to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 52% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- Alcácer do SalLargest city on its banks · 9,198 people
- Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 70 km from the cityCar hire at LIS airport (Lisbon)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Sado River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 3.6 m³/s in the lowest month to 120 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
Sado River: the basin in numbers
6,183 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 129,000people live in the basin
- 21/km²people per km²
- 144maverage altitude of the basin
- 580mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 16.6°Caverage air temperature
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 36% Forest
- 53% Cropland
- 23% 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
Sado River: what you find on the way
- 3Weirs
- 1Boat ramps
- 2Ferry piers
- 4Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Sado 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.
6beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (6)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Tróia River Beach24 km away18.9°C
- Playa De Comporta19 km away18.9°C
- Praia do Pêgo21 km away18.9°C
- Praia do Carvalhal20 km away18.9°C
- Praia da Malha da Costa21 km away18.9°C
- Praia dos Brejos19 km away18.9°C
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Tosquiado11 km away
- Monte da Vigia8.0 km away
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
Sado River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Xarrama River, Ribeira de Odivelas, Ribeira das Alcáçovas, Ribeira do Roxo
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Portugal1,007 km500 m³/s68 km awayGuadianaPortugal778 km70 m³/s173 km awayZêzere RiverPortugal248 km62 m³/s120 km awayMondego RiverPortugal234 km110 m³/s194 km awayTinto River
Spain100 km14 m³/s197 km awayGuadalquivirSpain657 km160 m³/s267 km awayDouro RiverPortugal897 km680 m³/s304 km awayVouga RiverPortugal148 km62 m³/s254 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q16669) · 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 | Coastya, 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.
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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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