River
Amblève
93 km from source to mouth · Belgium.
BelgiumFlows into Ourthe5th longest in Belgium
In numbers
Length
93km
Average flow
20m³/s
Basin
1,080km²
Drop
370m
from 467 m to 97 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
93 km of river and 27 stops on the way: 15 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 467 m
- 0 kmBullange5,340 people
- 4 kmLake Bütgenbach0.9 km²
- 5 kmButgenbach5,516 people
- 14 kmRobertville2,633 people
- 15 kmLake Robertville0.3 km²
- 16 kmwaterfall of Reinhardstein60 m
- 24 kmBévercé4,550 people
- 25 kmMalmédy12,654 people
- 32 kmBellevaux-Ligneuville1,853 people
- 33 kmWarchetributary
- 37 kmEau Rougetributary
- 38 kmStavelot6,646 people
- 44 kmTrois-Ponts2,533 people
- 45 kmSalmtributary
- 47 kmWaterfalls of Coo
- 50 kmLa Gleize1,212 people
- 50 kmVennes viaduct
- 57 kmStoumont3,104 people
- 58 kmTargnon bridge
- 70 kmwaterfall of Chaudière
- 76 kmRemouchamps viaduct
- 77 kmSougné-Remouchamps4,437 people
- 80 kmAywaille10,636 people
- 83 kmRouvreux1,777 people
- 90 kmComblain-au-Pont5,308 people
- 90 kmFond de Harzétributary
- 93 kmPoulseur1,827 people
- 93 kmOurtheat 97 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Belgium, mouth in Ourthe river
At the mouth it carries 20 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 128 seconds. It drops from 467 m to 97 m, 4.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,080 km², about the size of HK. 157,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MalmédyLargest city on its banks · 12,654 people
- Liège Airport (LGG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 48 km from the cityCar hire at LGG airport (Grâce-Hollogne)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Amblève, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 13 m³/s in the lowest month to 58 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
Amblève: the basin in numbers
2,738 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 157,000people live in the basin
- 57/km²people per km²
- 407maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,030mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.1°Caverage air temperature
- 35%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
- 0.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 51% Forest
- 10% Cropland
- 25% 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
Amblève: what you find on the way
- 16Weirs
- 6LocksEcluse n°16, Ecluse n°15 and 4 more
- 13WaterfallsCascade de Reinhardstein, Cascade de Coo, Petit Cascade de Coo and 10 more
- 2Boat ramps
- 1River beachesVENNtastic Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Amblève 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.
3waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
24mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (3)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- waterfall of Reinhardsteinkm 1460m
- Waterfalls of Cookm 3915m
- waterfall of Chaudièrekm 59
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Bütgenbachkm 40.9km²
- Lake Robertvillekm 13 · 54 m deep0.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (24)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Weißer Stein13 km away693m
- Eichels-Berg9.9 km away653m
- Giesberg10 km away607m
- Schartenknopf14 km away572m
- Dickelt14 km away569m
- Dickert7.5 km away562m
- Fockert10 km away559m
- Deperts Berg4.3 km away536m
16 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
Amblève in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
OurtheBelgium165 km55 m³/sTributaries (10)
Also: Warche, Eau Rouge, Salm, Lienne, Ninglinspo, Chefna, Emmels, Rechterbach, Roannay, Fond de Harzé
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Belgium190 km36 m³/s51 km awayRur
The Netherlands164 km25 m³/s86 km awayLahn
Germany242 km54 m³/s110 km awaySemois
France210 km35 m³/s92 km awayAlzette
Luxembourg73 km14 m³/s82 km awaySaarGermany246 km78 m³/s113 km awayMoselleGermany544 km320 m³/s143 km awayMeuseThe Netherlands950 km230 m³/s150 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q461361) · 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 | Cascadyas, 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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