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River

Drina

346 km from source to mouth · Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

SerbiaBosnia and HerzegovinaSerbia and Bosnia and HerzegovinaFlows into Sava4th longest in Serbia

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

346km

Average flow

120m³/s

Basin

19,570km²

Drop

402m

from 476 m to 74 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

346 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

476 m74 m
Sourceat 476 m0 km
Foča12,334 people33 km
Višegradsko Lake8.7 km²101 km
Mehmed Paša Sokolović BridgeUNESCO World Heritage104 km
Bajina Bašta8,533 people172 km
Trešnjicatributary203 km
Drinjačatributary251 km
Zvornik Lake7.9 km²262 km
Jadartributary314 km
Savaat 74 m346 km
0100200300346 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 476 m
  2. 0 kmLake Piva8.0 km²
  3. 10 kmPivatributary
  4. 15 kmSutjeskatributary
  5. 15 kmTaratributary
  6. 30 kmBistrica (Drina)tributary
  7. 33 kmFoča12,334 people
  8. 35 kmPrince Karl Iron Bridge
  9. 35 kmĆehotinatributary
  10. 44 kmUstikolina4,446 people
  11. 66 kmAlija Izetbegović bridge
  12. 66 kmGoražde17,650 people
  13. 77 kmPračatributary
  14. 93 kmLimtributary
  15. 101 kmVišegradsko Lake8.7 km²
  16. 104 kmMehmed Paša Sokolović BridgeUNESCO World Heritage
  17. 104 kmVišegrad5,869 people
  18. 104 kmRzavtributary
  19. 172 kmBajina Bašta8,533 people
  20. 203 kmTrešnjicatributary
  21. 222 kmBratoljub Bridge
  22. 223 kmBratunac4,717 people
  23. 251 kmDrinjačatributary
  24. 262 kmZvornik Lake7.9 km²
  25. 264 kmBridge of King Alexander I Karadjordjevic
  26. 264 kmZvornik8,026 people
  27. 307 kmJanja5,544 people
  28. 314 kmJadartributary
  29. 325 kmPavlović Bridge
  30. 327 kmBadovinci5,879 people
  31. 346 kmSavaat 74 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia

At the mouth it carries 125 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 20 seconds. It drops from 476 m to 74 m, 1.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 19,570 km², about the size of SI. 771,000 people live in it. Highest water: February, April and December. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (20% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • GoraždeLargest city on its banks · 17,650 people
  • Sarajevo International Airport (SJJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 55 km from the cityCar hire at SJJ airport (Sarajevo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Drina, month by month

Highest water: February, April and December

Best months to visit: from May to September.

300
0°69 mmJan
950
2°65 mmFeb
650
6°62 mmMar
870
10°74 mmApr
400
14°89 mmMay
450
18°94 mmJun
330
20°80 mmJul
140
20°69 mmAug
89
16°72 mmSep
210
12°74 mmOct
600
6°88 mmNov
880
2°85 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 89 m³/s in the lowest month to 950 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

Car hire at SJJ airport (Sarajevo)Discover CarsSee 

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

Drina: the basin in numbers

18,820 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 20% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 771,000people live in the basin
  • 41/km²people per km²
  • 947maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,037mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 2.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 43% Forest
  • 22% Cropland
  • 15% 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

Drina: what you find on the way

  • 6DamsBrana Mratinje, Višegrad Dam and 4 more
  • 13Weirs
  • 6Waterfalls
  • 5Boat rampsOđen puštaš čamac and 4 more
  • 2Ferry piers
  • 4River beachesKupalište Mačkovac, Ada, Pod mostom and 1 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Drina 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
  • 95mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (3)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Pivakm 08.0km²
  2. Višegradsko Lakekm 1008.7km²
  3. Zvornik Lakekm 261 · 39 m deep7.9km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (95)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Maglić11 km away · prominence 51 m2,386m
  2. Bioč13 km away2,397m
  3. Crnogorski Maglić12 km away · prominence 368 m2,388m
  4. Stanina Greda15 km away1,954m
  5. Crvene Prljage10 km away1,943m
  6. Bukovi Vrhovi8.7 km away1,726m
  7. Makaze13 km away1,637m
  8. Jelova Staza14 km away1,612m

87 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Drina: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Drina: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth19 km across

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

Drina in pictures

Drina River Gorazde 2
Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 4.0
Drina river as the boundary between Serbia (left) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (right)
Vasilii Martynov · CC0
Drina Canyon
Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
Drina canyon 2
Branevgd · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

SavaSerbiaSerbia945 km1,700 m³/s

Tributaries (14)

LimBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina220 km860 m³/sjoins at km 92TaraBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina144 km25 m³/sjoins at km 15PivaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina34 km14 m³/sjoins at km 10

Also: Sutjeska, Ćehotina, Rzav, Prača, Jadar, Drinjača, Janja, Bistrica (Drina), Žepa, Janjina, Trešnjica

In the same basin

DanubeRomaniaRomania2,850 km5,400 m³/sTiszaSerbiaSerbia966 km800 m³/sDravaCroatiaCroatia720 km620 m³/sInnGermanyGermany517 km740 m³/sPrutMoldovaMoldova953 km120 m³/sIsarGermanyGermany292 km170 m³/sMoravaAustriaAustria388 km110 m³/sSiret RiverRomaniaRomania740 km230 m³/sOlt RiverRomaniaRomania615 km170 m³/sMureș RiverHungaryHungary803 km160 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

BosutSerbiaSerbia186 km17 m³/s5 km awayTiszaSerbiaSerbia966 km800 m³/s79 km awayDravaCroatiaCroatia720 km620 m³/s77 km awayBosnaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina282 km140 m³/s70 km awayTimiș RiverSerbiaSerbia359 km47 m³/s103 km awayBega RiverRomaniaRomania256 km13 m³/s82 km awayGreat MoravaSerbiaSerbia185 km230 m³/s137 km awayLimBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina220 km860 m³/s131 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q186901) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit