River
Var
114 km from source to mouth · France.
FranceFlows into Mediterranean Sea
In numbers
Length
114km
Average flow
49m³/s
Basin
2,820km²
Drop
1,009m
from 1,012 m to 3 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
114 km of river and 24 stops on the way: 14 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmEntraunesat 1,012 m
- 17 kmBridge of the Bride
- 38 kmPont de la Porte Royale
- 46 kmPuget-Théniers1,854 people
- 46 kmRoudouletributary
- 85 kmTinéetributary
- 85 kmVésubietributary
- 85 kmLevens3,835 people
- 88 kmPont Charles-Albert
- 90 kmEstérontributary
- 91 kmSaint-Martin-du-Var2,283 people
- 91 kmLe Broc1,063 people
- 95 kmCastagniers1,407 people
- 96 kmAspremont2,074 people
- 98 kmColomars3,185 people
- 99 kmCarros13,803 people
- 99 kmPont de la Manda
- 101 kmGattières3,732 people
- 104 kmLa Gaude6,626 people
- 108 kmSaint-Isidore bridge
- 109 kmNice357,737 people
- 110 kmPlaine du Var21,228 people
- 111 kmSaint-Laurent-du-Var32,172 people
- 112 kmLes Moulins15,476 people
- 112 kmVar viaduct
- 114 kmMediterranean Seaat 3 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Southern France
At the mouth it carries 49 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 51 seconds. It drops from 1,012 m to 3 m, 8.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,820 km², about the size of LU. 182,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to December; lowest: from July to August. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- NiceLargest city on its banks · 357,737 people
- Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire at NCE airport (Nice, Alpes-Maritimes)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe13 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Var, month by month
Highest water: from November to December
Lowest water: from July to August. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 17 m³/s in the lowest month to 93 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
Var: the basin in numbers
2,825 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 182,000people live in the basin
- 64/km²people per km²
- 1,331maverage altitude of the basin
- 990mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.7°Caverage air temperature
- 54%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 72% Forest
- 4% Cropland
- 12% Pasture
- 2% 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
Var: what you find on the way
- 10Weirs
- 9WaterfallsCascade d'Amen and 8 more
- 11Rapids
- 2Canoe put-ins
- 1Boat ramps
- 3River beachesPlage naturiste, Plage La Gougouline, Handiplage – Espace Claude et Thérèse Faivre
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Var 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.
19beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
38mountains at the sourcePeakyas
4islands off the mouthIslandyas
Beaches (19)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Plage du Larvotto22 km away24.6°C
- Plage Petite Afrique13 km away24.6°C
- Neptune Plage6.4 km away24.6°C
- Plage de Galets3.8 km away24.7°C
- Anse Saint-Roch10 km away · cove24.7°C
- Anse de l'Argent Faux13 km away · cove24.7°C
- Anse de Canton20 km away · cove24.6°C
- Plage de Buse24 km away24.6°C
11 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
Mountains at the source (38)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mont Pelat4.9 km away · prominence 764 m3,051m
- Cimet6.9 km away · prominence 342 m3,020m
- Cime de la Bonette10 km away · prominence 180 m2,860m
- Côte de l'Âne4.0 km away2,916m
- Le Trou de l'Aigle3.6 km away · prominence 180 m2,961m
- Le Grand Cheval de Bois11 km away · prominence 453 m2,838m
- Barre Noire6.7 km away2,909m
- Roche Grande6.5 km away2,752m
30 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (4)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- île Sainte-Marguerite19 km away2.1km²
- île Saint-Honorat20 km away0.4km²
- îlot Saint-Ferréol20 km away
- îlot de la Tradelière18 km away
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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
Var in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (8)
Also: Tinée, Vésubie, Estéron, Cians, Roudoule, Coulomp, Chalvagne, Tuébi
Nearby
Rivers nearby
France116 km1,800 m³/s47 km awayVerdonFrance166 km27 m³/s118 km awayRhôneFrance812 km1,800 m³/s195 km awayDora Baltea
Italy160 km110 m³/s183 km awayDuranceFrance324 km180 m³/s199 km awayDora RipariaItaly125 km28 m³/s164 km awayTanaroItaly276 km120 m³/s195 km awayGardonFrance127 km32 m³/s208 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q933979) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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, 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
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