River
Drac
130 km from source to mouth · France.
FranceFlows into Isère
In numbers
Length
130km
Average flow
100m³/s
Basin
3,350km²
Drop
985m
from 1,186 m to 201 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
130 km of river and 34 stops on the way: 18 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,186 m
- 27 kmSaint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur1,608 people
- 43 kmSéveraissetributary
- 53 kmSautet Lake1.9 km²
- 53 kmSautet Dam
- 56 kmSouloisetributary
- 68 kmBonnetributary
- 69 kmLa Mure5,190 people
- 77 kmDrac Suspension Bridge
- 86 kmTunnel de Sinard
- 90 kmLa Motte-Saint-Martin1,647 people
- 91 kmLac de Monteynard-Avignonet3.3 km²
- 91 kmBarrage de Monteynard
- 97 kmLac de Notre-Dame-de-Commiers1.4 km²
- 103 kmSaint-Georges-de-Commiers1,996 people
- 104 kmVif6,942 people
- 107 kmChamp-sur-Drac3,511 people
- 110 kmRomanchetributary
- 111 kmChampagnier1,039 people
- 112 kmAllières-et-Risset6,815 people
- 113 kmGressetributary
- 114 kmPont Lesdiguières
- 114 kmLe Pont-de-Claix11,963 people
- 115 kmClaix7,836 people
- 118 kmÉchirolles33,088 people
- 119 kmSeyssins7,408 people
- 119 kmRondeau bridge
- 121 kmSeyssinet-Pariset13,473 people
- 122 kmPont de Catane
- 123 kmPont du Drac
- 123 kmGrenoble156,140 people
- 124 kmSaint-Martin-le-Vinoux5,589 people
- 125 kmFontaine24,588 people
- 128 kmSassenage10,641 people
- 130 kmSaint-Égrève15,904 people
- 130 kmIsèreat 201 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in France
At the mouth it carries 102 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 25 seconds. It drops from 1,186 m to 201 m, 7.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,350 km², about the size of CV. 765,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (26% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- GrenobleLargest city on its banks · 156,140 people
- Grenoble Alpes Isère Airport (GNB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 37 km from the cityCar hire at GNB airport (Grenoble)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Drac, month by month
Highest water: from November to February
Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 53 m³/s in the lowest month to 330 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
Drac: the basin in numbers
9,480 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 765,000people live in the basin
- 81/km²people per km²
- 1,648maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,317mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 4.4°Caverage air temperature
- 46%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 2%glaciers
- 3%permafrost
- 1.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 65% Forest
- 3% Cropland
- 16% Pasture
- 3% Towns and cities
- 2% 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
Drac: what you find on the way
- 5WeirsSeuil de Rivoire, Seuil Berriat, Seuil ILL and 2 more
- 12WaterfallsCascades de l'Oule, Cascade des Chaussières Haute, Cascade des Chaussières Basse and 9 more
- 6Boat ramps
- 2Ferry piersEmbarcadère Mayres Savel - La Mira, Embarcadère Treffort - La Mira
- 2River beachesPlage de Sinard, Plage naturiste du Courtalet
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Drac 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
23mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Sautet Lakekm 47 · 115 m deep1.9km²
- Lac de Monteynard-Avignonetkm 80 · 115 m deep3.3km²
- Lac de Notre-Dame-de-Commierskm 86 · 40 m deep1.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (23)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Tête de Vautisse7.5 km away3,156m
- Pointe de Rougnoux12 km away3,179m
- Grand Pinier7.6 km away3,117m
- Pic de Rochelaire6.1 km away · prominence 127 m3,108m
- Mourre-Froid2.0 km away2,995m
- Grande Autane10 km away2,782m
- Pointe de la Diablée3.9 km away · prominence 252 m2,928m
- Pointe de Serre4.2 km away2,617m
15 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
Drac in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
IsèreFrance286 km360 m³/sTributaries (9)
Also: Romanche, Séveraisse, Bonne, Gresse, Souloise, Drac Blanc, Ébron, Buissard, Drac Noir
SwitzerlandNearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1127096) · 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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