River
Aconcagua River
142 km from source to mouth · Chile.
ChileFlows into Pacific Ocean8th longest in Chile
In numbers
Length
142km
Average flow
39m³/s
Basin
7,200km²
Drop
1,175m
from 1,176 m to 1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
142 km of river and 17 stops on the way: 10 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmJuncal Riverat 1,176 m
- 28 kmLos Andes63,009 people
- 30 kmSan Esteban17,090 people
- 45 kmSan Felipe59,294 people
- 48 kmEstero Pocurotributary
- 49 kmEstero Quilpuétributary
- 49 kmPutaendo Rivertributary
- 58 kmPanquehue6,837 people
- 77 kmEstero Catemutributary
- 82 kmEstero Los Lorostributary
- 96 kmHijuelas10,005 people
- 101 kmLa Calera50,221 people
- 103 kmHacienda La Calera49,106 people
- 108 kmEstero Los Litrestributary
- 109 kmLa Cruz17,310 people
- 115 kmQuillota67,779 people
- 127 kmEstero Limachetributary
- 142 kmConcón42,152 people
- 142 kmPacific Oceanat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Chile
At the mouth it carries 39 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 64 seconds. It drops from 1,176 m to 1 m, 8.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 7,200 km², about the size of PS. 620,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July to August; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- QuillotaLargest city on its banks · 67,779 people
- Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 71 km from the cityCar hire at SCL airport (Santiago)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From January to April and OctoberThe best months to visit
Aconcagua River, month by month
Highest water: from July to August
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from January to April and October.
From about 2.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 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
Aconcagua River: the basin in numbers
7,322 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 620,000people live in the basin
- 85/km²people per km²
- 1,862maverage altitude of the basin
- 353mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.2°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 3%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 1% Forest
- 9% Cropland
- 40% Pasture
- 4% 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
Aconcagua River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1Locks
- 3River beachesLa Boca, Playa Negra, Playa Amarilla
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Aconcagua 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.
19beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
22mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (19)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa Acapulco12 km away17.2°C
- Playa Quilliruca24 km away17.3°C
- Playa Ritoque7.2 km away17.2°C
- Playa del Horcón22 km away17.3°C
- Caleta Higuerillaskm 148 · cove17.2°C
- Caleta Torpederas17 km away · cove17.2°C
- Caleta Grande17 km away · cove17.2°C
- Caleta Cochoa5.4 km away · cove17.2°C
11 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
Mountains at the source (22)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Morro Gualtatas9.8 km away3,333m
- Cerro Los Leones12 km away3,316m
- Morro Gallos12 km away2,710m
- Cerro Los Potrillos14 km away1,941m
- Cerro Tuquito12 km away
- Cerro Yaretas14 km away
- Morro Portillo10 km away
- Cerro del Potrero Alto7.8 km away
14 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
Aconcagua River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (11)
Also: Juncal River, Estero Limache, Putaendo River, Estero Catemu, Estero Los Loros, Estero Pocuro, Estero Quilpué, Colorado river (Aconcagua), Blanco River, Estero Los Litres, Estero El Cobre
ArgentinaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q738745) · 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.
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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
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit