River
San Juan River
380 km from source to mouth · Colombia.
ColombiaFlows into Pacific Ocean6th longest in Colombia
In numbers
Length
380km
Average flow
2.0m³/s
Basin
15,000km²
Drop
1,351m
from 1,353 m to 2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
380 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,353 m
- 1 kmPueblo Rico14,429 people
- 92 kmTadó17,000 people
- 117 kmIstmina25,981 people
- 380 kmPacific Oceanat 2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Colombia
At the mouth it carries 2.0 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1,250 seconds. It drops from 1,353 m to 2 m, 3.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 15,000 km², about the size of TL. 249,000 people live in it. Highest water: from September to November. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- IstminaLargest city on its banks · 25,981 people
- El Caraño Airport (UIB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 59 km from the cityCar hire in PereiraDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From September to JanuaryThe best months to visit
San Juan River, month by month
Highest water: from September to November
Best months to visit: from September to January.
From about 1,500 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,600 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
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
San Juan River: the basin in numbers
15,396 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 249,000people live in the basin
- 16/km²people per km²
- 692maverage altitude of the basin
- 4,769mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.5°Caverage air temperature
- 10%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 66% Forest
- 3% Cropland
- 8% 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
San Juan River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsQuebrada Amurrupacito
- 1MarinasPuerto El San Juan - Istmina
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
San Juan 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.
10beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
12mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (10)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa la Concepción12 km away28.2°C
- Playa Chuchero21 km away28.2°C
- Playa La Barra17 km away28.2°C
- Playa de Choncho4.8 km away28.1°C
- Caleta Tamborero23 km away · cove28.2°C
- Caleta Morritos24 km away · cove28.2°C
- Caleta Viáfara24 km away · cove28.2°C
- Ensenada del Pájaro24 km away · cove28.2°C
2 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
Mountains at the source (12)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Alto de Serna3.3 km away
- Alto Las Palomas3.4 km away
- Cerro Cruce9.4 km away
- Anamure14 km away
- Alto de Los Alpes14 km away
- Alto La Cristalina14 km away
- Filo El Abejero13 km away
- Cuchilla de Serna12 km away
4 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
San Juan River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: río Condoto, río Sipí, Río Tatamá
Ecuador
PanamaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q3097778) · 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.
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