River
Zêzere River
248 km from source to mouth · Portugal.
PortugalFlows into Tagus River5th longest in Portugal
In numbers
Length
248km
Average flow
62m³/s
Basin
5,062km²
Drop
489m
from 518 m to 29 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
248 km of river and 17 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSerra da Estrelaat 518 m
- 0 kmVale de Amoreira208 people
- 1 kmManteigas3,430 people
- 7 kmFamalicão458 people
- 35 kmCovilhã51,797 people
- 41 kmTortosendo5,216 people
- 47 kmFundão29,213 people
- 75 kmBarroca378 people
- 155 kmCabril Reservoir5.7 km²
- 155 kmCabril Dam
- 156 kmPedrógão Grande3,915 people
- 157 kmPonte do Cabril
- 158 kmPedrógão Pequeno916 people
- 171 kmBouçã Dam
- 201 kmIsna Rivertributary
- 233 kmCastelo do Bode Reservoir20 km²
- 234 kmCastelo do Bode Dam
- 239 kmNabão Rivertributary
- 248 kmTagus Riverat 29 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Portugal
At the mouth it carries 62 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 40 seconds. It drops from 518 m to 29 m, 2.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 5,062 km², about the size of TT. 259,000 people live in it. Highest water: from January to February; lowest: from June to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 100% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- CovilhãLargest city on its banks · 51,797 people
- Aerodromo Goncalves Lobato (Viseu Airport) (VSE)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 59 km from the cityCar hire at OPO airport (Porto)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water15 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Zêzere River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 9.7 m³/s in the lowest month to 150 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
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The basin
Zêzere River: the basin in numbers
5,044 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 259,000people live in the basin
- 51/km²people per km²
- 475maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,015mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 14.3°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 2.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 85% Forest
- 8% Cropland
- 5% Pasture
- 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
Zêzere River: what you find on the way
- 16WeirsAçude da Barroca, Açude do Poeiro and 14 more
- 2WaterfallsCascata dos Portoleiros, Cascata do Maxial
- 12Boat rampsDornes and 11 more
- 2MarinasPraia Fluvial do Cabril
- 18River beachesPraia Fluvial de Valhelhas, Praia Fluvial do Ourondo, Açude and 15 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Zêzere 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
12mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Cabril Reservoirkm 1295.7km²
- Castelo do Bode Reservoirkm 19420km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (12)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Torre2.5 km away · prominence 1,204 m1,993m
- Cântaro Magro1.2 km away1,927m
- Alto do Espinheiro3.8 km away
- Alto da Malhoeira13 km away
- Serra da Galega9.6 km away
- Lomba das Cancelas11 km away
- Cabeço do Ribeiro do Boi11 km away
- Cerro do Covão da Costa8.1 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
Zêzere River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Tagus RiverPortugal1,007 km500 m³/sTributaries (3)
Also: Nabão River, Isna River, Unhais
SpainNearby
Rivers nearby
Portugal234 km110 m³/s86 km awaySado RiverPortugal180 km40 m³/s120 km awayDouro RiverPortugal897 km680 m³/s188 km awayVouga RiverPortugal148 km62 m³/s139 km awayTâmega RiverPortugal184 km69 m³/s177 km awayÁgueda RiverPortugal176 km23 m³/s210 km awayGuadianaPortugal778 km70 m³/s268 km awayMinho RiverPortugal315 km340 m³/s275 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q15671) · 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 | Lakeyas, 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?
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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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