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River

Salween River

2,815 km from source to mouth · Myanmar, China and Thailand.

MyanmarChinaThailandMyanmar, China and ThailandFlows into Andaman Sea1st longest in Myanmar

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

2,815km

Average flow

4,900m³/s

Basin

325,000km²

Drop

4,585m

from 4,586 m to 1 m

Countries

3

The journey

From source to mouth

2,815 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

4,586 m1 m
Nagquat 4,586 m0 km
Sichuan-Tibet Railway Nu River Bridge650 km
Liuku63,013 people1,238 km
Lushui197,000 people1,240 km
Tarsan Bridge2,017 km
Pai Rivertributary2,230 km
Hpa-An421,525 people2,530 km
Andaman Seaat 1 m2,815 km
01,0002,0002,815 km
  1. 0 kmNagquat 4,586 m
  2. 650 kmSichuan-Tibet Railway Nu River Bridge
  3. 1,238 kmLiuku63,013 people
  4. 1,240 kmLushui197,000 people
  5. 1,589 kmKunlong Bridge
  6. 2,017 kmTarsan Bridge
  7. 2,230 kmPai Rivertributary
  8. 2,429 kmMoei Rivertributary
  9. 2,530 kmHpa-An421,525 people
  10. 2,535 kmThanlwin Bridge (Hpa-An)
  11. 2,556 kmHmaw Bi25,960 people
  12. 2,567 kmThanlwin Bridge
  13. 2,815 kmAndaman Seaat 1 m

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

Major river in Southeast Asia

At the mouth it carries 4,876 m³/s on average: 2.0 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 4,586 m to 1 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 325,000 km², about the size of NO. 8.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Hpa-AnLargest city on its banks · 421,525 people
  • Mae Sot Airport (MAQ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 99 km from the cityCar hire in Mae SotDiscover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water32 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • AprilThe best months to visit

Salween River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: April.

2,000
6°7 mmJan
910
8°12 mmFeb
820
11°20 mmMar
1,200
15°41 mmApr
3,000
17°113 mmMay
6,300
19°184 mmJun
10,100
19°217 mmJul
13,200
19°212 mmAug
13,600
18°152 mmSep
11,500
15°92 mmOct
7,800
11°29 mmNov
4,200
7°10 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 820 m³/s in the lowest month to 13,600 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

Car hire in Mae SotDiscover CarsSee 

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

Salween River: the basin in numbers

265,228 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.6% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 8.3millionpeople live in the basin
  • 31/km²people per km²
  • 2,498maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,059mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 12.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 5%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 13%permafrost
  • 1.0km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 23% Forest
  • 5% Cropland
  • 29% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities
  • 1% Ice

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

Salween River: what you find on the way

  • 14DamsChalong Dam, JinJiang and 12 more
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 31Ferry piersJetty to Hpa-pu, Hpa-an jetty and 29 more
  • 1Marinas

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Salween 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.

  • 0lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
  • 1island off the mouthIslandyas

Lakes and reservoirs (0)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

    Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

    Mountains at the source (1)

    Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

    1. Jongsitolog6.3 km away

    Open Peakyas ↗

    Islands off the mouth (1)

    Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

    1. Gaungze Kyun6.4 km away

    Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

    From space

    The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

    Salween River: satellite view of the source
    The source14 km across
    Salween River: satellite view of the mouth
    The mouth70 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

    Salween River in pictures

    Boats in the Salween River
    Christophe95 · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Salween River Burma Thailand border 1
    Ken Marshall · CC BY 2.0
    Sweet View of Salween River in Tang Yan Township, Shan State, Myanmar
    Saosukham · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Micro-hydro Salween River in Yunnan Province, China
    Oregon State University · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Tributaries

    Where it flows, and what flows into it

    Tributaries (6)

    Also: Moei River, Pai River, Gyaing River, Nam Pang River, Teng River, Nam Hka

    Nearby

    Rivers nearby

    Sittaung RiverMyanmarMyanmar560 km1,200 m³/s114 km awayIrrawaddy RiverMyanmarMyanmar2,170 km13,000 m³/s280 km awayPing RiverThailandThailand800 km260 m³/s280 km awayYom RiverThailandThailand600 km430 m³/s288 km awayPa Sak RiverThailandThailand513 km220 m³/s397 km awayChao Phraya RiverThailandThailand372 km840 m³/s451 km awayMae KlongThailandThailand140 km590 m³/s433 km awayKok RiverLaosLaos285 km2,800 m³/s487 km away

    Where these numbers come from

    Name, length, placesWikidata (Q26422) · 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 atlasesLakeyas, 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.

    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