River
Lempa River
422 km from source to mouth · El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
El Salvador, Guatemala and HondurasFlows into Pacific Ocean1st longest in El Salvador
In numbers
Length
422km
Average flow
360m³/s
Basin
18,246km²
Drop
1,140m
from 1,141 m to 1 m
Countries
3
The journey
From source to mouth
422 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,141 m
- 28 kmMonjas13,541 people
- 51 kmSanta Catarina Mita10,817 people
- 68 kmAsunción Mita48,297 people
- 109 kmLake Güija36 km²
- 205 kmPuente San Martín
- 227 kmLake Suchitlán93 km²
- 274 kmMapulaca4,314 people
- 312 kmTorola Rivertributary
- 352 kmCuscatlán Bridge
- 353 kmCuscatlán Bridge (1998)
- 422 kmPacific Oceanat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Central America
At the mouth it carries 362 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.9 seconds. It drops from 1,141 m to 1 m, 2.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 18,246 km², about the size of FJ. 3.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to October; lowest: from January to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (22% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Asunción MitaLargest city on its banks · 48,297 people
- La Aurora International Airport (GUA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 92 km from the cityCar hire at GUA airport (Guatemala City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Lempa River, month by month
Highest water: from August to October
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to February.
From about 64 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,000 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
Lempa River: the basin in numbers
18,063 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 213/km²people per km²
- 795maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,765mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 22.5°Caverage air temperature
- 6%protected areas
- 0.9%covered by lakes
- 2.7km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 29% Forest
- 49% Cropland
- 29% Pasture
- 6% 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
Lempa River: what you find on the way
- 2Ferry piers
- 4River beachesPlaya El Amatal, Playa de Azacualpa, Playa El Tamarindo and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Lempa 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
4beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Güijakm 92 · 20 m deep36km²
- Lake Suchitlánkm 19293km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (4)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa Costa del Sol23 km away30.1°C
- Playa San Marcelino25 km away30.1°C
- Playa Los Negros2.7 km away30.0°C
- Playa Los Blancos20 km away30.1°C
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Tahual14 km away1,716m
- Cerro Anicillo13 km away
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
Lempa River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (2)
Also: Sumpul River, Torola River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
El Salvador130 km33 m³/s107 km awayPaz RiverEl Salvador134 km23 m³/s149 km awayMotagua RiverGuatemala486 km310 m³/s280 km awayDulce RiverGuatemala43 km340 m³/s276 km awayUlúa RiverHonduras358 km440 m³/s317 km awayPasión RiverGuatemala353 km320 m³/s403 km awayBelize River
Belize290 km200 m³/s479 km awayMopan RiverBelize38 km93 m³/s436 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1511554) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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.
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