River
Ilmenau
125 km from source to mouth · Germany.
GermanyFlows into Elbe
In numbers
Length
125km
Average flow
800m³/s
Basin
2,852km²
Drop
64m
from 63 m to -1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
125 km of river and 38 stops on the way: 25 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLüneburg Heathat 63 m
- 1 kmLüder1,293 people
- 13 kmWieren2,666 people
- 21 kmWrestedt2,996 people
- 28 kmGerdautributary
- 31 kmUelzen34,996 people
- 32 kmWipperautributary
- 51 kmGöhrdebrücke
- 51 kmBad Bevensen8,700 people
- 56 kmAltenmedingen1,585 people
- 60 kmRöbbelbachtributary
- 66 kmBienenbüttel6,775 people
- 73 kmStederautributary
- 75 kmMelbeck3,358 people
- 79 kmDeutsch Evern3,727 people
- 80 kmHäcklingen2,375 people
- 80 kmHasenburger Mühlenbachtributary
- 81 kmWendisch Evern1,597 people
- 83 kmWilschenbruch758 people
- 84 kmRotes Feld4,595 people
- 86 kmIlmenau-Brücke Altenbrückertorstraße
- 86 kmSchützenplatz4,696 people
- 86 kmLüneburg71,260 people
- 87 kmLüner Straße bridge
- 87 kmReichenbachstraße bridge
- 88 kmLüne-Moorfeld4,147 people
- 90 kmGoseburg-Zeltberg2,774 people
- 91 kmAdendorf9,865 people
- 93 kmBardowick6,026 people
- 98 kmBrietlingen3,150 people
- 99 kmWittorf1,384 people
- 101 kmBarum1,782 people
- 101 kmneedle dam Wittorf
- 104 kmHandorf2,063 people
- 109 kmFahrenholz lock
- 116 kmNeetzetributary
- 120 kmWinsen32,662 people
- 120 kmLuhetributary
- 123 kmKirchwerder10,218 people
- 125 kmElbeat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Left and southern tributary of the river Elbe in Lower Saxony, Germany
At the mouth it carries 804 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.1 seconds. It drops from 63 m to -1 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,852 km², about the size of LU. 20.7 million people live in it. Highest water: March, from May to June and December. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (14% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- LüneburgLargest city on its banks · 71,260 people
- Hamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 51 km from the cityCar hire at HAM airport (Hamburg)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water23 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
Ilmenau, month by month
Highest water: March, from May to June and December
Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 430 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,500 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
Ilmenau: the basin in numbers
136,665 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 20.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 153/km²people per km²
- 281maverage altitude of the basin
- 618mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.0°Caverage air temperature
- 28%protected areas
- 1.0%covered by lakes
- 3.5km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 30% Forest
- 39% Cropland
- 11% Pasture
- 7% 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
Ilmenau: what you find on the way
- 42WeirsAußenmühlenwehr, Lösegrabenwehr, Auslaufbauwerk and 39 more
- 5LocksElbe-Seitenkanal, Ilmenau (Schleuse Bardowick), Ilmenau (Schleuse Wittorf) and 2 more
- 1Canoe put-ins
- 9Boat rampsSlipanlage Sportboothafen and 8 more
- 2Ferry piersFähre Zollenspieker - Hoopte, Fähre Hoopte - Zollenspieker
- 8MarinasYachtclub Uelzen e.V., Boots-Club Oberelbe, Yachtclub Zollenspieker and 5 more
- 6River beachesOldenstädter See (West), Oldenstädter See (Ost), Oldenstädter See (Nord) and 3 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ilmenau 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.
41mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (41)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Ilkenberg12 km away
- Witten-Berg14 km away
- Winkel-Berg13 km away
- Windmühlen-Berg14 km away
- Welloh15 km away
- Kahlstorfer Berg9.1 km away
- Höpt-Berg12 km away
- Blauer Berg8.9 km away
33 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
Ilmenau in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (8)
Also: Luhe, Neetze, Stederau, Gerdau, Hasenburger Mühlenbach, Wipperau, Röbbelbach, Barnstedt-Melbecker Bach
CzechiaNearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q3346) · 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 | 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