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River

Drôme

111 km from source to mouth · France.

FranceFranceFlows into Rhône

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

111km

Average flow

20m³/s

Basin

1,640km²

Drop

600m

from 688 m to 88 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

111 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 10 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

688 m88 m
Sourceat 688 m0 km
Viaduc du Claps11 km
Die4,924 people34 km
Aouste-sur-Sye2,145 people75 km
Crest8,517 people79 km
Livron-sur-Drôme8,440 people100 km
Rhôneat 88 m111 km
0255075111 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 688 m
  2. 11 kmViaduc du Claps
  3. 34 kmDie4,924 people
  4. 75 kmAouste-sur-Sye2,145 people
  5. 79 kmCrest8,517 people
  6. 83 kmDrôme Viaduct
  7. 83 kmEurre1,087 people
  8. 88 kmGrane1,693 people
  9. 93 kmAllex2,245 people
  10. 100 kmLivron-sur-Drôme8,440 people
  11. 101 kmLoriol-sur-Drôme5,803 people
  12. 106 kmLa Voulte-sur-Rhône5,108 people
  13. 110 kmLe Pouzin2,849 people
  14. 111 kmRhôneat 88 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 20 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 125 seconds. It drops from 688 m to 88 m, 5.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,640 km², about the size of GP. 8.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from November to January. Its dams hold back little of its water (7.0% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • CrestLargest city on its banks · 8,517 people
  • Grenoble Alpes Isère Airport (GNB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 75 km from the cityCar hire at GNB airport (Grenoble)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Drôme, month by month

Highest water: from November to January

Best months to visit: from May to September.

1,600
3°62 mmJan
1,600
4°69 mmFeb
1,500
8°74 mmMar
1,400
11°62 mmApr
1,300
14°82 mmMay
1,100
18°69 mmJun
870
21°44 mmJul
770
20°68 mmAug
1,100
17°89 mmSep
1,600
12°95 mmOct
1,800
7°79 mmNov
1,800
4°67 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 770 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,800 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

Drôme: the basin in numbers

68,984 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 7.0% of a year's flow.
  • 8.7millionpeople live in the basin
  • 129/km²people per km²
  • 787maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,068mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.1°Caverage air temperature
  • 18%protected areas
  • 1.1%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 2%permafrost
  • 3.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 45% Forest
  • 19% Cropland
  • 22% Pasture
  • 6% Towns and cities
  • 1% 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

Drôme: what you find on the way

  • 3DamsBarrage de Loriol
  • 12WeirsSeuil des Pues, Seuil de la Drôme, Chemin de la Plaine and 9 more
  • 1Locks
  • 7Waterfalls
  • 1Rapids
  • 3Boat rampsPoint d'embarquement et de débarquement isolé - Parcours de canöé-kayak, Portage Kayak Barrage du Pouzin
  • 1MarinasHalte fluviale - port
  • 3Boat rentalsEva Location, Yvan Loisirs Canoë, Canoë Drôme
  • 1River beachesCrest

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Drôme 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.

  • 32mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (32)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Montagne Durbonas14 km away2,086m
  2. Sommet de Laup2.7 km away1,543m
  3. Beaumont15 km away1,514m
  4. Sommet d'Aiguillon7.6 km away1,406m
  5. Roc de Beauvent0.9 km away1,379m
  6. Luzet8.1 km away1,377m
  7. Roc de Longue-Dent14 km away1,337m
  8. Pierre Blanche11 km away1,336m

24 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Drôme: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Drôme: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth36 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

Drôme in pictures

Drôme
Hanhil · Public domain
Aouste pont sur la Drôme
Toutaitanous · CC BY-SA 3.0
Die - La Drôme
AirScott · CC BY-SA 4.0
Drome again
Deb Collins · CC BY 2.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q743296) · 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 atlasesPeakyas — 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