River
Motagua River
486 km from source to mouth · Guatemala.
GuatemalaFlows into Gulf of Honduras1st longest in Guatemala
In numbers
Length
486km
Average flow
310m³/s
Basin
16,100km²
Drop
1,572m
from 1,574 m to 2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
486 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 14 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmQuiché Departmentat 1,574 m
- 65 kmSan Raimundo38,891 people
- 71 kmChuarrancho17,057 people
- 100 kmLas Vacas Rivertributary
- 128 kmSanarate42,422 people
- 162 kmSan Agustín Acasaguastlán55,508 people
- 171 kmEl Jícaro13,518 people
- 175 kmSan Cristóbal Acasaguastlán7,979 people
- 187 kmCabañas14,817 people
- 189 kmUsumatlán13,245 people
- 196 kmHuité12,021 people
- 202 kmTeculután6,407 people
- 221 kmRío Hondo5,997 people
- 228 kmRío Grande de Zacapatributary
- 254 kmGualán49,709 people
- 298 kmLos Amates3,417 people
- 365 kmMorales18,994 people
- 486 kmGulf of Hondurasat 2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Guatemala
At the mouth it carries 311 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.0 seconds. It drops from 1,574 m to 2 m, 3.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 16,100 km², about the size of TL. 3.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to October; lowest: from February to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- San Agustín AcasaguastlánLargest city on its banks · 55,508 people
- La Aurora International Airport (GUA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 73 km from the cityCar hire at GUA airport (Guatemala City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From December to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Motagua River, month by month
Highest water: from August to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from December to February.
From about 120 m³/s in the lowest month to 610 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
Motagua River: the basin in numbers
16,329 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 238/km²people per km²
- 1,002maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,432mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 21.8°Caverage air temperature
- 11%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 28% Forest
- 35% Cropland
- 25% Pasture
- 9% 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
Motagua River: what you find on the way
- 1River beachesBarbacoa y Playa
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Motagua 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.
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Turcaj12 km away
- Cerro Pocojil14 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
Motagua River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (2)
Also: Las Vacas River, Río Grande de Zacapa
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Honduras358 km440 m³/s60 km awayDulce RiverGuatemala43 km340 m³/s66 km awayBelize River
Belize290 km200 m³/s202 km awayMopan RiverBelize38 km93 m³/s184 km awayPasión RiverGuatemala353 km320 m³/s261 km awayLempa River
El Salvador422 km360 m³/s280 km awayGoascorán RiverEl Salvador130 km33 m³/s258 km awayHondo River
Mexico150 km130 m³/s307 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1346148) · 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