River
Mae Klong
140 km from source to mouth · Thailand.
ThailandFlows into Bay of Bangkok7th longest in Thailand
In numbers
Length
140km
Average flow
590m³/s
Basin
30,000km²
Drop
25m
from 25 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
140 km of river and 19 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 25 m
- 8 kmKhwae Yai Rivertributary
- 8 kmKhwae Noi Rivertributary
- 12 kmKanchanaburi63,699 people
- 23 kmMae Klong dam
- 25 kmTha Muang26,746 people
- 46 kmTha Maka52,907 people
- 64 kmBan Pong57,559 people
- 73 kmWang Manao0.3 km²
- 79 kmPhotharam36,248 people
- 102 kmRatchaburi92,448 people
- 102 kmChulalongkorn Bridge
- 120 kmWat Ket Karam
- 122 kmBang Khonthi Bridge
- 123 kmWat Tri Chinda Watthanaram
- 124 kmWat Pak Nam
- 125 kmWat Kasem Saranaram
- 127 kmWat Nang Wang
- 128 kmWat Suan Luang
- 134 kmSamut Songkhram35,065 people
- 140 kmBay of Bangkokat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in central Thailand
At the mouth it carries 589 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.2 seconds. It drops from 25 m to 0 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 30,000 km², about the size of AM. 1.4 million people live in it. Highest water: October; lowest: from January to April. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 144% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- RatchaburiLargest city on its banks · 92,448 people
- Don Mueang International Airport (DMK)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 95 km from the cityCar hire at DMK airport (Bangkok)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to JanuaryThe best months to visit
Mae Klong, month by month
Highest water: October
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to January.
From about 140 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
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The basin
Mae Klong: the basin in numbers
28,648 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 50/km²people per km²
- 451maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,661mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 25.1°Caverage air temperature
- 57%protected areas
- 2.3%covered by lakes
- 27km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 29% Forest
- 13% Cropland
- 2% 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
Mae Klong: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 3Locks
- 2Rapids
- 1Boat ramps
- 6Ferry piers
- 1River beachesTha Lo Beach (Wat Ban Thong)
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Mae Klong 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
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
49mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Wang Manaokm 710.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Ao Bang Tabun12 km away · cove30.7°C
Mountains at the source (49)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Khao Wang Hip4.7 km away
- Khao Tong6.1 km away
- Khao Raet9.2 km away
- Khao Raeng8.4 km away
- Khao Pu Khong14 km away
- Khao Noi7.9 km away
- Khao Laem12 km away
- Khao I Tum12 km away
41 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
Mae Klong in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Khwae Yai River, Khwae Noi River, Khlong Am Phawa, Khlong Bang Noi
MyanmarWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1194112) · 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, 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
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