River
Grijalva River
480 km from source to mouth · Mexico.
MexicoFlows into Gulf of Mexico7th longest in Mexico
In numbers
Length
480km
Average flow
2,800m³/s
Basin
134,400km²
Drop
1,085m
from 1,083 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
480 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSierra de los Cuchumatanesat 1,083 m
- 30 kmComalapa18,704 people
- 154 kmAcala13,889 people
- 176 kmChiapa de Corzo45,077 people
- 193 kmSumidero Canyon
- 344 kmHuimanguillo27,344 people
- 393 kmVillahermosa353,577 people
- 394 kmBosque de Saloya8,600 people
- 397 kmPomoca10,864 people
- 412 kmLaguna el Vigía7.6 km²
- 452 kmUsumacinta Rivertributary
- 464 kmFrontera22,795 people
- 480 kmGulf of Mexicoat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in México and Guatemala
At the mouth it carries 2,750 m³/s on average: 1.1 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 1,083 m to -2 m, 2.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 134,400 km², about the size of GR. 8.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from September to October; lowest: from February to May. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (20% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- VillahermosaLargest city on its banks · 353,577 people
- Carlos Rovirosa Pérez International Airport (VSA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 13 km from the cityCar hire in Ciudad del CarmenDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to MarchThe best months to visit
Grijalva River, month by month
Highest water: from September to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from December to March.
From about 760 m³/s in the lowest month to 7,300 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
Grijalva River: the basin in numbers
123,639 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 8.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 68/km²people per km²
- 698maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,026mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.2°Caverage air temperature
- 23%protected areas
- 1.4%covered by lakes
- 22km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 51% Forest
- 30% Cropland
- 18% 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
Grijalva River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsChristmas tree waterfall
- 1Boat ramps
- 7Ferry piersEl Paso del Duende and 6 more
- 2MarinasPuerto de Frontera, Capitania de Puerto
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Grijalva River 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.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
27mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Laguna el Vigíakm 5527.6km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa el Bosque4.5 km away29.2°C
- Playa Pico de Oro24 km away29.2°C
- Playa El Boqueron19 km away29.2°C
Mountains at the source (27)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Tuicoche13 km away
- Cerro Piedra Obscura5.0 km away
- Cumbre Tojchim14 km away
- Cerro Toquian Grande10 km away
- Chepavilzaj9.2 km away
- Cerro Tepehuaje13 km away
- Cerro Boqueron12 km away
- Cerro Boquerones9.1 km away
19 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
Grijalva River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
In the same basin
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Mexico560 km6.5 m³/s19 km awayPasión River
Guatemala353 km320 m³/s323 km awayPapaloapan RiverMexico122 km1,500 m³/s325 km awayMopan River
Belize38 km93 m³/s411 km awayHondo RiverMexico150 km130 m³/s459 km awayBelize RiverBelize290 km200 m³/s479 km awayNew RiverBelize132 km25 m³/s453 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q27035) · 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, Coastya, 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit