River
Drwęca
207 km from source to mouth · Poland.
PolandFlows into Vistula
In numbers
Length
207km
Average flow
1,000m³/s
Basin
5,536km²
Drop
66m
from 99 m to 33 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
207 km of river and 21 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 99 m
- 0 kmJezioro Gugowo0.6 km²
- 7 kmJezioro Ostrowin0.4 km²
- 9 kmJezioro Lichtajny0.4 km²
- 18 kmOstróda33,524 people
- 21 kmLake Pauzeńskie1.0 km²
- 24 kmDrwęckie Lake3.8 km²
- 24 kmJezioro Morliny0.5 km²
- 62 kmIławkatributary
- 76 kmWeltributary
- 81 kmNowe Miasto Lubawskie10,997 people
- 84 kmKurzętnik3,065 people
- 112 kmJezioro Bachotek1.9 km²
- 119 kmNiskie Brodno0.6 km²
- 119 kmBrodnica27,341 people
- 128 kmRypienicatributary
- 160 kmGolub-Dobrzyń12,937 people
- 164 kmRuziectributary
- 172 kmOkonin0.3 km²
- 193 kmLubicz Górny3,520 people
- 199 kmJordantributary
- 207 kmToruń198,273 people
- 207 kmVistulaat 33 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Poland
At the mouth it carries 1,022 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.4 seconds. It drops from 99 m to 33 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 5,536 km², about the size of BN. 21.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from May to June; lowest: from January to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (6.9% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- ToruńLargest city on its banks · 198,273 people
- Ignacy Jan Paderewski Bydgoszcz Airport (BZG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 44 km from the cityCar hire at POZ airport (Poznań)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe6 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Drwęca, month by month
Highest water: from May to June
Lowest water: from January to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 660 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,000 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
Drwęca: the basin in numbers
178,257 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 21.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 124/km²people per km²
- 214maverage altitude of the basin
- 604mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.3°Caverage air temperature
- 18%protected areas
- 0.7%covered by lakes
- 2.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 25% Forest
- 45% Cropland
- 15% Pasture
- 5% 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
Drwęca: what you find on the way
- 7WeirsJaz "Samborowo", Jaz w Tamie Brodzkiej and 5 more
- 8LocksŚluza Mała Ruś, Śluza Ostróda and 6 more
- 6Canoe put-insPrzystań kajakowa w Brodnicy, Przystań kajakowa and 4 more
- 2Boat ramps
- 1Ferry piersŻegluga Ostródzko-Elbląska
- 5MarinasKlub Żeglarski, Klub Wodny LOK Ostróda, Sokół and 2 more
- 8River beachesPlaża Ostrowińska, Kąpielisko nr 3 przy ul. Plebiscytowej, nad Jeziorze Perskim, Plaża Miejska and 5 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Drwęca 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.
9lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (9)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Jezioro Gugowokm 00.6km²
- Jezioro Lichtajnykm 80.4km²
- Lake Pauzeńskiekm 171.0km²
- Drwęckie Lakekm 19 · 22 m deep3.8km²
- Jezioro Morlinykm 200.5km²
- Jezioro Bachotekkm 90 · 24 m deep1.9km²
- Niskie Brodnokm 960.6km²
- Okoninkm 1400.3km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Drwęca in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
VistulaTributaries (15)
Also: Iławka, Wel, Brynica, Grabiczek, Ruziec, Rypienica, Gizela, Skarlanka, Wąbrzeska Rivulet, Jordan, Pisia, Brodnicka Rivulet, Kujawska Rivulet, Młyńska Rivulet, Rychnowska
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1261531) · 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 — 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.



