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River

Ill

217 km from source to mouth · France.

FranceFranceFlows into Rhine

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

217km

Average flow

54m³/s

Basin

4,760km²

Drop

291m

from 410 m to 119 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

217 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 64 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

410 m119 m
Sourceat 410 m0 km
Fahler Wasserfall37 km
Basel177,595 people46 km
Mulhouse104,978 people66 km
Illzach14,923 people78 km
Sainte-Croix-en-Plaine3,004 people115 km
Horbourg-Wihr6,199 people120 km
Benfeld5,973 people164 km
Erstein10,790 people170 km
Strasbourg293,771 people192 km
Rhineat 119 m217 km
050100150217 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 410 m
  2. 0 kmDelémont12,682 people
  3. 2 kmLigsdorf317 people
  4. 2 kmWinkel301 people
  5. 2 kmSondersdorf319 people
  6. 6 kmOltingue695 people
  7. 6 kmWerentzhouse633 people
  8. 6 kmFislis396 people
  9. 6 kmRaedersdorf481 people
  10. 31 kmAesch10,138 people
  11. 33 kmDornach6,449 people
  12. 35 kmArlesheim9,301 people
  13. 35 kmReinach19,216 people
  14. 37 kmFahler Wasserfall
  15. 38 kmMünchenstein11,644 people
  16. 39 kmMuttenz16,927 people
  17. 42 kmBirsfelden10,232 people
  18. 45 kmBinningen14,130 people
  19. 46 kmBasel177,595 people
  20. 49 kmSaint-Louis20,871 people
  21. 51 kmWeil am Rhein32,236 people
  22. 57 kmEfringen-Kirchen8,235 people
  23. 66 kmMulhouse104,978 people
  24. 66 kmBrunstatt-Didenheim8,259 people
  25. 78 kmIllzach14,923 people
  26. 79 kmBaldersheim2,596 people
  27. 79 kmSausheim5,666 people
  28. 79 kmRuelisheim2,519 people
  29. 83 kmNeuenburg am Rhein11,682 people
  30. 98 kmOberhergheim1,315 people
  31. 98 kmBiltzheim510 people
  32. 114 kmBreisach am Rhein14,367 people
  33. 115 kmSainte-Croix-en-Plaine3,004 people
  34. 115 kmNiederhergheim1,176 people
  35. 115 kmLogelheim950 people
  36. 115 kmSundhoffen1,993 people
  37. 120 kmHorbourg-Wihr6,199 people
  38. 131 kmIllhaeusern717 people
  39. 138 kmBaldenheim1,254 people
  40. 140 kmMuttersholtz2,290 people
  41. 152 kmEbersheim2,284 people
  42. 152 kmKogenheim1,172 people
  43. 152 kmSermersheim955 people
  44. 152 kmEbersmunster574 people
  45. 153 kmHuttenheim2,735 people
  46. 163 kmSchwanau6,858 people
  47. 164 kmBenfeld5,973 people
  48. 166 kmSand1,417 people
  49. 167 kmMatzenheim1,494 people
  50. 167 kmOsthouse975 people
  51. 170 kmErstein10,790 people
  52. 172 kmNordhouse1,753 people
  53. 177 kmHipsheim1,029 people
  54. 178 kmFegersheim5,780 people
  55. 179 kmGeispolsheim7,919 people
  56. 179 kmEschau5,878 people
  57. 180 kmAndlautributary
  58. 180 kmIllkirch-Graffenstaden27,872 people
  59. 192 kmOstwald13,946 people
  60. 192 kmBruchetributary
  61. 192 kmKehl39,584 people
  62. 192 kmStrasbourg293,771 people
  63. 194 kmSchiltigheim34,708 people
  64. 194 kmBischheim18,558 people
  65. 203 kmLa Wantzenau5,864 people
  66. 209 kmGambsheim5,312 people
  67. 210 kmRheinau10,997 people
  68. 212 kmPeterhafen0.5 km²
  69. 214 kmOffendorf2,484 people
  70. 217 kmRhineat 119 m

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

River in Alsace, France

At the mouth it carries 54 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 46 seconds. It drops from 410 m to 119 m, 1.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 4,760 km², about the size of TT. 10.1 million people live in it. Highest water: January and from June to August. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.5% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • StrasbourgLargest city on its banks · 293,771 people
  • Strasbourg Airport (SXB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 10 km from the cityCar hire at SXB airport (Strasbourg)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water150 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe44 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Ill, month by month

Highest water: January and from June to August

Best months to visit: from May to September.

1,500
1°43 mmJan
1,100
3°39 mmFeb
940
6°42 mmMar
930
10°53 mmApr
1,300
14°75 mmMay
1,700
17°84 mmJun
1,600
19°69 mmJul
1,600
19°81 mmAug
1,300
16°57 mmSep
1,200
11°46 mmOct
1,300
5°57 mmNov
1,400
2°43 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 930 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,700 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 SXB airport (Strasbourg)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

Ill: the basin in numbers

45,752 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 4.5% of a year's flow.
  • 10.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 228/km²people per km²
  • 913maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,150mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 6.8°Caverage air temperature
  • 12%protected areas
  • 2.8%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 1%permafrost
  • 1.7km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 62% Forest
  • 16% Cropland
  • 25% Pasture
  • 13% 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

Ill: what you find on the way

  • 17DamsBarrage de Rhinau, Centrale Hydroélectrique de Rhinau, Vanne secondaire du Polder d'Erstein and 14 more
  • 156WeirsWasserhaus, Möhlinwehr, Kulturwehr Breisach and 153 more
  • 81LocksRhein, Canal de Huningue, Écluse de Kembs and 78 more
  • 6WaterfallsWasserfall Laufen, Chlus and 4 more
  • 8Rapids
  • 36Canoe put-insRheinwehr, Waldschlut, Großmattenrhein and 33 more
  • 56Boat rampsGrißheim (km 206,550), Geisswasser, Slipanlage Breisach and 53 more
  • 40Ferry piersRhytaxi / Rheintaxi, MuttenzSchifflände, Birschöpfli and 37 more
  • 50MarinasMSC Hochrhein, Wassersportclub Grenzach-Wyhlen, IG Rheinhalde and 47 more
  • 4Boat rentalsAlsace Plaisance, Aquatic Club d'Alsace et de Lorraine - site de Plobsheim, Captain Bretzel and 1 more
  • 7River beachesKneip Kaltbad, Plage de Huningue, FKK and 4 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Ill 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.

  • 1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 8mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Fahler Wasserfallkm 33

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Peterhafenkm 1890.5km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (8)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Les Ordons8.6 km away · prominence 214 m995m
  2. Mont Terri11 km away · prominence 108 m804m
  3. Montgremay10 km away · prominence 141 m940m
  4. Mont Russelin12 km away938m
  5. Roc au Corbeau5.4 km away751m
  6. Le Morimont5.4 km away749m
  7. Räschberg13 km away
  8. Glaser Berg3.8 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Ill: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Ill: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth29 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

Ill in pictures

Absolute Eglise saint paul 01
Jonathan M · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

RhineThe NetherlandsThe Netherlands1,233 km2,200 m³/s

Tributaries (16)

Also: Thur, Bruche, Doller, Fecht, Largue, Lauch, Andlau, Souffel, Dollerbaechlein, Blind (river), Giessen, Quatelbach, Thalbach, Aar, Ehn, Hirtzbach

In the same basin

MoselleGermanyGermany544 km320 m³/sMainGermanyGermany524 km200 m³/sAareSwitzerlandSwitzerland295 km560 m³/sNeckarGermanyGermany362 km140 m³/sLahnGermanyGermany242 km54 m³/sRuhrGermanyGermany217 km79 m³/sSaarGermanyGermany246 km78 m³/sLippeGermanyGermany255 km240 m³/sReussSwitzerlandSwitzerland159 km130 m³/sLimmatSwitzerlandSwitzerland140 km100 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

NeckarGermanyGermany362 km140 m³/s95 km awayAareSwitzerlandSwitzerland295 km560 m³/s124 km awayMainGermanyGermany524 km200 m³/s144 km awayBliesFranceFrance100 km19 m³/s79 km awayBregGermanyGermany49 km9.7 m³/s95 km awayKocherGermanyGermany168 km23 m³/s107 km awayReussSwitzerlandSwitzerland159 km130 m³/s136 km awayLimmatSwitzerlandSwitzerland140 km100 m³/s136 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q668472) · 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 atlasesCascadyas, Lakeyas, 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