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River

Main

524 km from source to mouth · Germany.

GermanyGermanyFlows into Rhine2nd longest in Germany

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

524km

Average flow

200m³/s

Basin

27,292km²

Drop

317m

from 401 m to 84 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

524 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 30 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

401 m84 m
Upper Franconiaat 401 m0 km
Fürth132,036 people84 km
Leitenbachtributary139 km
Regnitztributary155 km
Unkenbachtributary207 km
Würzburg133,753 people274 km
Gemünden am Main10,021 people311 km
Hafenlohrtributary341 km
Erftributary396 km
Mümlingtributary415 km
Frankfurt760,656 people476 km
Rhineat 84 m524 km
0200400524 km
  1. 0 kmUpper Franconiaat 401 m
  2. 84 kmFürth132,036 people
  3. 98 kmErlangen102,675 people
  4. 135 kmBamberg70,047 people
  5. 139 kmLeitenbachtributary
  6. 141 kmBaunachtributary
  7. 141 kmItztributary
  8. 155 kmRegnitztributary
  9. 207 kmUnkenbachtributary
  10. 234 kmSchwarzachtributary
  11. 246 kmSulzfeld am Main1,240 people
  12. 250 kmMarktbreit3,764 people
  13. 253 kmFrickenhausen am Main1,194 people
  14. 254 kmBreitbachtributary
  15. 257 kmThierbachtributary
  16. 273 kmMarienberg Fortress
  17. 274 kmWürzburg133,753 people
  18. 276 kmPleichachtributary
  19. 280 kmZell am Main4,346 people
  20. 308 kmWerntributary
  21. 311 kmGemünden am Main10,021 people
  22. 313 kmFranconian Saaletributary
  23. 318 kmNeuendorf803 people
  24. 325 kmRechtenbach (Main)tributary
  25. 325 kmLohrtributary
  26. 341 kmHafenlohrtributary
  27. 358 kmAalbachtributary
  28. 361 kmStaustufe Eichel
  29. 368 kmTaubertributary
  30. 374 kmFaulbach barrage and locks
  31. 386 kmFreudenberg barrage
  32. 386 kmFreudenberg3,570 people
  33. 396 kmErftributary
  34. 405 kmStaustufe Klingenberg
  35. 415 kmMümlingtributary
  36. 425 kmStaustufe Obernau
  37. 430 kmAschaffenburg68,551 people
  38. 436 kmGersprenztributary
  39. 437 kmKleinostheim8,153 people
  40. 441 kmMainhausen9,516 people
  41. 443 kmHörsteiner See0.6 km²
  42. 449 kmKahltributary
  43. 450 kmFreigericht-Ost0.3 km²
  44. 451 kmStaustufe Krotzenburg
  45. 458 kmHanau98,582 people
  46. 458 kmHanau am Main88,648 people
  47. 459 kmKinzigtributary
  48. 463 kmMühlheim am Main29,213 people
  49. 465 kmRodautributary
  50. 470 kmOffenbach am Main133,195 people
  51. 470 kmOffenbach119,192 people
  52. 473 kmStaustufe Offenbach
  53. 476 kmSachsenhausen63,308 people
  54. 476 kmFrankfurt am Main650,000 people
  55. 476 kmFrankfurt760,656 people
  56. 483 kmStaustufe Griesheim
  57. 486 kmStaustufe Höchst
  58. 487 kmNiddatributary
  59. 491 kmKelsterbach16,762 people
  60. 492 kmHattersheim am Main28,820 people
  61. 494 kmSchwarzbachtributary
  62. 496 kmEddersheim barrage and locks
  63. 500 kmRaunheim15,155 people
  64. 502 kmRüsselsheim am Main59,730 people
  65. 506 kmWickerbachtributary
  66. 507 kmHochheim am Main18,425 people
  67. 508 kmBischofsheim13,034 people
  68. 508 kmGinsheim-Gustavsburg16,452 people
  69. 513 kmMainz223,888 people
  70. 524 kmRhineat 84 m

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

Right tributary of Rhine river in Germany

At the mouth it carries 195 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 13 seconds. It drops from 401 m to 84 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 27,292 km², about the size of HT. 6.7 million people live in it. Highest water: February, April and December. Its dams hold back little of its water (2.5% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • FrankfurtLargest city on its banks · 760,656 people
  • Frankfurt Main Airport (FRA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 13 km from the cityCar hire at FRA airport (Frankfurt am Main)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water284 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe26 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Main, month by month

Highest water: February, April and December

Best months to visit: from May to September.

78
0°44 mmJan
440
1°39 mmFeb
300
5°43 mmMar
380
9°47 mmApr
120
13°59 mmMay
200
17°74 mmJun
190
18°64 mmJul
200
18°66 mmAug
110
14°49 mmSep
130
10°48 mmOct
200
4°51 mmNov
360
1°54 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 78 m³/s in the lowest month to 440 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 FRA airport (Frankfurt am Main)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

Main: the basin in numbers

27,405 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 2.5% of a year's flow.
  • 6.7millionpeople live in the basin
  • 244/km²people per km²
  • 348maverage altitude of the basin
  • 683mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 34%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 0.2km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 31% Forest
  • 32% Cropland
  • 10% Pasture
  • 13% 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

Main: what you find on the way

  • 18DamsFeuersteinwehr, Biberdamm and 16 more
  • 308WeirsRutzendorfer Mühle, Zenn, Schleifmühle and 305 more
  • 109LocksSchleuse Leerstetten, Schleuse Eibach, Schleuse Kriegenbrunn and 106 more
  • 8WaterfallsBibertwasserfall, Ochsenklavier, Klingelbachschlucht and 5 more
  • 10RapidsFörstermühle and 9 more
  • 16Canoe put-insPettstatt, Gemünden Mühlgrabenwehr, KSC Gemünden and 13 more
  • 138Boat rampsKanuanlegestelle Staffelbach, Eltmann, Schonungen and 135 more
  • 42Ferry piersFähranleger Mühlwörth, Don Bosco Fähre, Anlegestelle Hotelschiffe and 39 more
  • 93MarinasPolizeibootshaus, Sportboothafen Nürnberg - 1. MYC Nürnberg, Sportbootclub Herzogenaurach and 90 more
  • 11Boat rentalsKahnfahrt Rednitzhembach, Boardnerds SUP, Surf & Skate Shop & Testcenter, Bootsverleih Wagner and 8 more
  • 23River beachesStadt Strand Ansbach, FKK-Strand, Horhäuser See Bademöglichkeit and 20 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Main 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
  • 91mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Hörsteiner Seekm 4550.6km²
  2. Freigericht-Ostkm 462 · 16 m deep0.3km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (91)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Büttelberg12 km away · prominence 64 m530m
  2. Petersberg14 km away504m
  3. Deutscher Bühl7.8 km away527m
  4. Kühberg5.1 km away516m
  5. Felberg7.6 km away · prominence 54 m509m
  6. Plattenhöhe10 km away474m
  7. Sandberg9.3 km away · prominence 81 m534m
  8. Schulzenhöhe6.1 km away532m

83 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Main: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Main: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth23 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

Main in pictures

Blick über den Main nach Mariaburghausen
Stephan van Helden · CC BY-SA 4.0
2020 Promenade am Main im Hafenpark
Magistermercator · CC BY-SA 4.0
AIMG 3658 Kutschfahrt am Main
Xocolatl · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bij Marktbreit, zicht vanaf de brug naar snelweg over de Main foto4 2016-08-07 09.14
Michielverbeek · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

RhineThe NetherlandsThe Netherlands1,233 km2,200 m³/s

Tributaries (86)

TauberGermanyGermany131 km150 m³/sjoins at km 378NiddaGermanyGermany90 km13 m³/sjoins at km 500RegnitzGermanyGermany59 km51 m³/sjoins at km 159

Also: Franconian Saale, Kinzig, Itz, Red Main, White Main, Rodach, Aschaff, Elsava, Aalbach, Baunach, Mümling, Kahl, Erlenbach, Gersprenz, Weismain, Wern, Haslochbach, Nassach, Lohr, Schwarzach, Breitbach, Forchbach, Unkenbach, Leitenbach

In the same basin

MoselleGermanyGermany544 km320 m³/sAareSwitzerlandSwitzerland295 km560 m³/sNeckarGermanyGermany362 km140 m³/sLahnGermanyGermany242 km54 m³/sRuhrGermanyGermany217 km79 m³/sSaarGermanyGermany246 km78 m³/sLippeGermanyGermany255 km240 m³/sReussSwitzerlandSwitzerland159 km130 m³/sIllFranceFrance217 km54 m³/sLimmatSwitzerlandSwitzerland140 km100 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

NeckarGermanyGermany362 km140 m³/s55 km awayMoselleGermanyGermany544 km320 m³/s65 km awayNiddaGermanyGermany90 km13 m³/s21 km awayNaheGermanyGermany125 km32 m³/s29 km awayLahnGermanyGermany242 km54 m³/s120 km awayTauberGermanyGermany131 km150 m³/s89 km awaySaarGermanyGermany246 km78 m³/s127 km awayKocherGermanyGermany168 km23 m³/s108 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1670) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 atlasesLakeyas, 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