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River

Naryn River

807 km from source to mouth · Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

UzbekistanKyrgyzstanUzbekistan and KyrgyzstanFlows into Syr Darya3rd longest in Uzbekistan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

807km

Average flow

430m³/s

Basin

59,900km²

Drop

2,977m

from 3,379 m to 402 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

807 km of river and 21 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

3,379 m402 m
Tianshan Mountainsat 3,379 m0 km
On Archa Rivertributary243 km
Song-Költributary258 km
Alabuga Rivertributary357 km
Kökiyrim Rivertributary435 km
Kökömeren Rivertributary473 km
Toktogul Reservoir223 km²602 km
Kürp-Say Reservoir8.3 km²642 km
Syr Daryaat 402 m807 km
0200400600807 km
  1. 0 kmTianshan Mountainsat 3,379 m
  2. 224 kmNaryn41,178 people
  3. 243 kmOn Archa Rivertributary
  4. 258 kmSong-Költributary
  5. 270 kmAt-Bashi Rivertributary
  6. 357 kmAlabuga Rivertributary
  7. 428 kmKazarman11,191 people
  8. 435 kmKökiyrim Rivertributary
  9. 473 kmKökömeren Rivertributary
  10. 532 kmKambarata-2 Hydro Power Plant
  11. 578 kmChychkantributary
  12. 582 kmUzun-Akmattributary
  13. 602 kmToktogul Reservoir223 km²
  14. 606 kmToktogul Dam
  15. 609 kmKara-Kul’26,901 people
  16. 642 kmKürp-Say Reservoir8.3 km²
  17. 642 kmKurpsai Dam
  18. 662 kmTash-Kumyr Hydroelectric Power Station
  19. 671 kmTash-Kumyr23,594 people
  20. 692 kmUchkurgakskoe Vodokhranilishche3.1 km²
  21. 692 kmÜç-Korgon Hydroelectric Power Station
  22. 706 kmUchqŭrghon Shahri40,000 people
  23. 807 kmSyr Daryaat 402 m

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

River in Kyrgyzstan, a tributary of the Syr Darya

At the mouth it carries 429 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.8 seconds. It drops from 3,379 m to 402 m, 3.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 59,900 km², about the size of TG. 1.1 million people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from April to June; lowest: from December to March. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 171% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • NarynLargest city on its banks · 41,178 people
  • Issyk-Kul International Airport (IKU)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 141 km from the cityCar hire at ALA airport (Almaty)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Naryn River, month by month

Highest water: from April to June

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to September.

23
-12°17 mmJan
23
-9°20 mmFeb
23
-1°32 mmMar
1,100
7°42 mmApr
1,100
12°52 mmMay
1,000
16°44 mmJun
340
18°30 mmJul
200
17°21 mmAug
130
13°16 mmSep
170
6°26 mmOct
130
-2°20 mmNov
89
-9°19 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 23 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,100 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 ALA airport (Almaty)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

Naryn River: the basin in numbers

60,782 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 171% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 1.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 19/km²people per km²
  • 2,672maverage altitude of the basin
  • 400mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 0.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas
  • 0.9%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 20%permafrost
  • 20km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 3% Forest
  • 9% Cropland
  • 53% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities
  • 1% Ice

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

Naryn River: what you find on the way

  • 10DamsKambarata HPP-2 dam, Üç-Korgon Hydroelectric Power Station and 8 more
  • 2Weirs
  • 1Locks
  • 2Ferry piers

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Naryn 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
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (3)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Toktogul Reservoirkm 559 · 180 m deep223km²
  2. Kürp-Say Reservoirkm 5958.3km²
  3. Uchkurgakskoe Vodokhranilishchekm 6413.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Pik SNK Kirgisii14 km away4,947m

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Naryn River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Naryn River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth34 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

Naryn River in pictures

Lovely town of Naryn - panoramio
steflas · CC BY-SA 3.0
Approaching Naryn by helicopter - panoramio
steflas · CC BY-SA 3.0
Naryn River, Kyrgyzstan (29473088427)
Ninara from Helsinki, Finland · CC BY 2.0
Naryn river
Nurdjen · Public domain

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Syr DaryaKazakhstanKazakhstan2,212 km700 m³/s

Tributaries (8)

At-Bashi RiverKyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan180 km33 m³/sjoins at km 251

Also: Kökömeren River, Alabuga River, On Archa River, Chychkan, Uzun-Akmat, Kökiyrim River, Song-Köl

In the same basin

Kara DaryaUzbekistanUzbekistan180 km140 m³/sChirchiqUzbekistanUzbekistan154 km220 m³/sArys RiverKazakhstanKazakhstan378 km47 m³/sChatkal RiverUzbekistanUzbekistan217 km130 m³/sAngren RiverUzbekistanUzbekistan236 km23 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Kara DaryaUzbekistanUzbekistan180 km140 m³/s0 km awayChatkal RiverUzbekistanUzbekistan217 km130 m³/s160 km awayChirchiqUzbekistanUzbekistan154 km220 m³/s257 km awayAngren RiverUzbekistanUzbekistan236 km23 m³/s246 km awayBartang RiverTajikistanTajikistan528 km130 m³/s330 km awayTalas RiverKazakhstanKazakhstan661 km170 m³/s376 km awayAt-Bashi RiverKyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan180 km33 m³/s324 km awayArys RiverKazakhstanKazakhstan378 km47 m³/s360 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q651195) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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