River
Ili River
1,439 km from source to mouth · Kazakhstan and China.
Kazakhstan and ChinaFlows into Lake Balkhash3rd longest in Kazakhstan
In numbers
Length
1,439km
Average flow
480m³/s
Basin
140,000km²
Drop
2,258m
from 2,601 m to 343 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
1,439 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmTekes Riverat 2,601 m
- 371 kmKunges Rivertributary
- 371 kmTekes Rivertributary
- 432 kmKax23,543 people
- 449 kmKax Hetributary
- 477 kmArewusitang19,986 people
- 501 kmTaxkowrük17,015 people
- 591 kmQorghastributary
- 730 kmCharyn Rivertributary
- 730 kmChilik Rivertributary
- 942 kmTalgartributary
- 957 kmKapchagay Reservoir1,206 km²
- 1,027 kmKurtitributary
- 1,439 kmLake Balkhashat 343 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Kazakhstan and China
At the mouth it carries 480 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.2 seconds. It drops from 2,601 m to 343 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 140,000 km², about the size of NP. 5.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from January to February and from September to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 395% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- KaxLargest city on its banks · 23,543 people
- Ili Yining International Airport (YIN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 56 km from the cityCar hire at ALA airport (Almaty)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water6 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Ili River, month by month
Highest water: from April to June
Lowest water: from January to February and from September to October. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 26 m³/s in the lowest month to 740 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
Ili River: the basin in numbers
134,775 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 5.1millionpeople live in the basin
- 38/km²people per km²
- 1,642maverage altitude of the basin
- 352mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 3.7°Caverage air temperature
- 10%protected areas
- 1.0%covered by lakes
- 2%glaciers
- 11%permafrost
- 28km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 8% Forest
- 9% Cropland
- 65% Pasture
- 1% 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
Ili River: what you find on the way
- 3Weirs
- 1WaterfallsTekes
- 2Boat ramps
- 4Marinas
- 1River beachesMoreLux
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ili 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
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Kapchagay Reservoirkm 846 · 45 m deep1,206km²
Lakeyas 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.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (9)
Kazakhstan427 km35 m³/sjoins at km 645Chilik RiverKazakhstan245 km32 m³/sjoins at km 645Also: Tekes River, Kunges River, Talgar, Kurti, Kax He, Qorghas, Ussek River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Kazakhstan390 km67 m³/s234 km awayAksu RiverKazakhstan316 km11 m³/s306 km awayLepsy RiverKazakhstan417 km19 m³/s316 km awayChong-Kemin River
Kyrgyzstan116 km22 m³/s340 km awayTalas RiverKazakhstan661 km170 m³/s413 km awayAyaguz RiverKazakhstan492 km8.8 m³/s388 km awayCharyn RiverKazakhstan427 km35 m³/s436 km awayChilik RiverKazakhstan245 km32 m³/s436 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q192567) · 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.
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