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River

Teesta River

470 km from source to mouth · Bangladesh and India.

BangladeshIndiaBangladesh and IndiaFlows into Brahmaputra River1st longest in Bangladesh

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

470km

Average flow

1,300m³/s

Basin

12,000km²

Drop

5,016m

from 5,032 m to 16 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

470 km of river and 14 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

5,032 m16 m
Lachen Riverat 5,032 m0 km
Lachen Rivertributary70 km
Rangpo Rivertributary148 km
Ranikholatributary148 km
Gajoldoba Barrage220 km
Jalpāiguri107,832 people261 km
Gangachara Bridge, Rangpur375 km
Brahmaputra Riverat 16 m470 km
0100200300400470 km
  1. 0 kmLachen Riverat 5,032 m
  2. 70 kmLachen Rivertributary
  3. 70 kmLachung Rivertributary
  4. 95 kmMangan4,644 people
  5. 138 kmSingtam6,133 people
  6. 148 kmRangpo10,450 people
  7. 148 kmRangpo Rivertributary
  8. 148 kmRanikholatributary
  9. 168 kmRangeet Rivertributary
  10. 195 kmCoronation Bridge
  11. 197 kmTeesta Railway Bridge
  12. 220 kmGajoldoba Barrage
  13. 261 kmJalpāiguri107,832 people
  14. 375 kmGangachara Bridge, Rangpur
  15. 448 kmMawlana Bhasani Bridge
  16. 470 kmBrahmaputra Riverat 16 m

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

River that flows from the eastern Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal

At the mouth it carries 1,294 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.9 seconds. It drops from 5,032 m to 16 m, 11 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 12,000 km², about the size of QA. 5.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from July to August; 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

Teesta River, month by month

Highest water: from July to August

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

43
14°13 mmJan
44
16°14 mmFeb
58
20°39 mmMar
100
23°86 mmApr
300
24°248 mmMay
780
25°520 mmJun
1,300
25°626 mmJul
1,500
26°496 mmAug
1,300
25°365 mmSep
770
23°127 mmOct
360
19°12 mmNov
100
16°3 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 43 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,500 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 at PBH airport (Paro)Discover 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

Teesta River: the basin in numbers

12,395 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 1.5% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 5.3millionpeople live in the basin
  • 431/km²people per km²
  • 2,158maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,861mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 13.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 19%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 6%glaciers
  • 10%permafrost
  • 0.2km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 40% Forest
  • 39% Cropland
  • 6% Pasture
  • 6% Towns and cities
  • 6% 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

Teesta River: what you find on the way

  • 12DamsTeesta Stage III Dam, The Teesta Barrage, DIKCHU and 9 more
  • 2Weirs
  • 17WaterfallsSmall waterfall, Nanga waterfalls, Big waterfall and 14 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Teesta 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.

  • 3mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (3)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Pemikhangchhen7.8 km away
  2. Chameringu6.3 km away
  3. Langopozhang Ri13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Teesta River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Teesta River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth15 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

Teesta River in pictures

Teestavalley
Unknown author · CC BY-SA 2.0
Overlooking the confluence of Teesta River and Rangeet River from Lover's Point, West Bengal
Subhrajyoti07 · CC BY-SA 4.0
River Teesta, Siliguri, West Bengal, India 09032019
Joydeep · CC BY-SA 4.0
River Teesta, Siliguri, West Bengal, India 09032019 01
Joydeep · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Brahmaputra RiverIndiaIndia2,900 km19,500 m³/s

Tributaries (6)

Also: Rangeet River, Lachen River, Lachung River, Rangpo River, Ranikhola, Talung Chu

In the same basin

GangesIndiaIndia2,525 km12,000 m³/sYamunaIndiaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma RiverBangladeshBangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sGandaki RiverIndiaIndia630 km1,800 m³/sChambal RiverIndiaIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladeshBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sGhaghara RiverIndiaIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndiaIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndiaIndia729 km2,300 m³/sSon RiverIndiaIndia780 km1,200 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Sankosh RiverIndiaIndia320 km5,400 m³/s59 km awayManas RiverIndiaIndia400 km500 m³/s133 km awayJamuna RiverBangladeshBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/s185 km awayGangesIndiaIndia2,525 km12,000 m³/s267 km awayMahananda RiverIndiaIndia360 km390 m³/s177 km awayKosi RiverIndiaIndia729 km2,300 m³/s243 km awayPadma RiverBangladeshBangladesh120 km32,000 m³/s267 km awayParo ChhuBhutanBhutan80 km32 m³/s202 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q907883) · 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 atlasesPeakyas — 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