River
Suriname River
480 km from source to mouth · Suriname.
SurinameFlows into Atlantic Ocean1st longest in Suriname
In numbers
Length
480km
Average flow
440m³/s
Basin
16,814km²
Drop
215m
from 214 m to -1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
480 km of river and 19 stops on the way: 10 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 214 m
- 201 kmFeroelasie Val
- 223 kmPokigron500 people
- 315 kmBrokopondo Reservoir1,067 km²
- 321 kmBalling Soela
- 326 kmBrokopondo4,482 people
- 393 kmJodensavanneUNESCO World Heritage
- 426 kmParanam1,800 people
- 445 kmDomburg5,500 people
- 454 kmParakreektributary
- 455 kmPeperpot
- 461 kmMeerzorg12,405 people
- 461 kmJules Wijdenbosch Bridge
- 462 kmBeekhuizen17,185 people
- 463 kmParamaribo223,757 people
- 466 kmRainville22,747 people
- 469 kmBlauwgrond31,483 people
- 469 kmGeyersvlijt
- 470 kmNieuw Amsterdam5,650 people
- 470 kmCommewijne Rivertributary
- 480 kmAtlantic Oceanat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Suriname
At the mouth it carries 440 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.7 seconds. It drops from 214 m to -1 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 16,814 km², about the size of SZ. 248,000 people live in it. Highest water: from June to July; lowest: from October to November. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 139% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- ParamariboLargest city on its banks · 223,757 people
- Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (PBM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 46 km from the cityCar hire at PBM airport (Paramaribo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From February to March and from September to NovemberThe best months to visit
Suriname River, month by month
Highest water: from June to July
Lowest water: from October to November. Best months to visit: from February to March and from September to November.
From about 200 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,100 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
Suriname River: the basin in numbers
16,814 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 248,000people live in the basin
- 15/km²people per km²
- 118maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,366mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 26.5°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 6.4%covered by lakes
- 23km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 83% Forest
- 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
Suriname River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 3Locks
- 3Boat rampsVeerpont Carolina
- 8Ferry piersJaw Jaw a tela, Leonsberg and 6 more
- 2River beachesOverbridge, BoaVista
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Suriname 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.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Feroelasie Valkm 194
- Balling Soelakm 309
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Brokopondo Reservoirkm 303 · 47 m deep1,067km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Suriname River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Commewijne River, Parakreek, Cassipora Kreek
Nearby
Rivers nearby
French Guiana612 km1,700 m³/s124 km awayCoppename RiverSuriname400 km550 m³/s92 km awaySaramacca RiverSuriname255 km280 m³/s90 km awayCourantyne River
Guyana724 km580 m³/s225 km awayLawa RiverFrench Guiana362 km970 m³/s178 km awayBerbice RiverGuyana595 km370 m³/s273 km awayEssequibo RiverGuyana1,014 km2,100 m³/s392 km awayDemerara RiverGuyana350 km290 m³/s356 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q635545) · 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas — 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 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
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit