River
Limay River
500 km from source to mouth · Argentina.
ArgentinaFlows into Río Negro
In numbers
Length
500km
Average flow
700m³/s
Basin
61,723km²
Drop
513m
from 769 m to 256 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
500 km of river and 14 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmNahuel Huapi Lakeat 769 m
- 0 kmDina Huapi5,491 people
- 1 kmNahuel Huapi Lake528 km²
- 51 kmTraful Rivertributary
- 119 kmCollón Curá Rivertributary
- 223 kmPichi Picún Leufú Dam
- 386 kmEmbalse Ezequiel Ramos Mexía712 km²
- 386 kmEl Chocón Dam
- 413 kmArroyito Reservoir36 km²
- 413 kmArroyito Dam
- 433 kmSenillosa9,534 people
- 459 kmPlottier52,291 people
- 468 kmLas Perlas4,184 people
- 479 kmBelgrano12,649 people
- 479 kmNeuquén231,198 people
- 500 kmRío Negroat 256 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Argentina
At the mouth it carries 700 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.6 seconds. It drops from 769 m to 256 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 61,723 km², about the size of LV. 463,000 people live in it. Highest water: July; lowest: from December to March. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 121% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- NeuquénLargest city on its banks · 231,198 people
- Presidente Perón International Airport (NQN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at NQN airport (Neuquén)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to MarchThe best months to visit
Limay River, month by month
Highest water: July
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from November to March.
From about 300 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,300 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
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The basin
Limay River: the basin in numbers
94,336 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 463,000people live in the basin
- 5/km²people per km²
- 1,094maverage altitude of the basin
- 451mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.6°Caverage air temperature
- 10%protected areas
- 2.9%covered by lakes
- 42km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 11% Forest
- 34% Pasture
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
Limay River: what you find on the way
- 18Weirs
- 4Locks
- 7Waterfalls
- 5Boat rampsBajada de Lanchas and 4 more
- 4Ferry piersLancha Naupa Huen and 3 more
- 2MarinasBajada Pública, Kayak Sup La Perla
- 4River beachesPlaya Las Bombas, Playa Boca Río Limay, Playa Río Limay and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Limay 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Nahuel Huapi Lakekm 1 · 464 m deep528km²
- Embalse Ezequiel Ramos Mexíakm 359712km²
- Arroyito Reservoirkm 38436km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Campo San Ramón8.5 km away
- Cerro Carmen de Villegas4.8 km away
- Cerro Alto15 km away
- Cerro Lepún10 km away
- Cerro Coyagh13 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.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Río NegroArgentina635 km1,000 m³/sTributaries (2)
Also: Collón Curá River, Traful River
In the same basin
ChileWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1470945) · 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, 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?
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