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River

Paz River

134 km from source to mouth · El Salvador and Guatemala.

El SalvadorGuatemalaEl Salvador and GuatemalaFlows into Pacific Ocean2nd longest in El Salvador

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

134km

Average flow

23m³/s

Basin

2,661km²

Drop

841m

from 844 m to 3 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

134 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

844 m3 m
Sourceat 844 m0 km
Pacific Oceanat 3 m134 km
050100134 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 844 m
  2. 134 kmPacific Oceanat 3 m

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

River in southern Guatemala

At the mouth it carries 23 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 108 seconds. It drops from 844 m to 3 m, 6.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,661 km², about the size of LU. 576,000 people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Paz River, month by month

Highest water: September

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from November to February.

9.5
26°1 mmJan
9.0
26°1 mmFeb
9.1
27°8 mmMar
14
27°48 mmApr
48
27°164 mmMay
110
26°307 mmJun
130
26°260 mmJul
130
26°275 mmAug
160
26°332 mmSep
130
26°223 mmOct
58
26°32 mmNov
20
25°6 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 9.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 160 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 GUA airport (Guatemala City)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

Paz River: the basin in numbers

2,184 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 576,000people live in the basin
  • 263/km²people per km²
  • 794maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,692mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 23.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas

What covers the basin

  • 46% Forest
  • 42% Cropland
  • 30% 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.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Paz 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.

  • 4beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
  • 2mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Beaches (4)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. Playa Dorada15 km away30.1°C
  2. Playa Los Limones14 km away30.1°C
  3. Playa Costa Azul22 km away30.1°C
  4. Playa El Monzón24 km away30.1°C

Open Coastya ↗

Mountains at the source (2)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Volcán de Flores8.2 km away1,600m
  2. Cerro de la Pava13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Paz River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Paz River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 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.

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Lempa RiverEl SalvadorEl Salvador422 km360 m³/s149 km awayGoascorán RiverEl SalvadorEl Salvador130 km33 m³/s247 km awayDulce RiverGuatemalaGuatemala43 km340 m³/s261 km awayMotagua RiverGuatemalaGuatemala486 km310 m³/s299 km awayPasión RiverGuatemalaGuatemala353 km320 m³/s309 km awayUlúa RiverHondurasHonduras358 km440 m³/s353 km awayMopan RiverBelizeBelize38 km93 m³/s398 km awayBelize RiverBelizeBelize290 km200 m³/s467 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q3083598) · 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 atlasesCoastya, 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