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River

Reuss

159 km from source to mouth · Switzerland.

SwitzerlandSwitzerlandFlows into Lake Lucerne2nd longest in Switzerland

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

159km

Average flow

130m³/s

Basin

3,425km²

Drop

1,107m

from 1,435 m to 328 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

159 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 55 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,435 m328 m
Canton of Uriat 1,435 m0 km
Gurtnellen558 people17 km
Schattdorf5,418 people33 km
Altdorf10,495 people38 km
Lake Lucerne110 km²83 km
Lucerne86,234 people84 km
Jonenbachtributary117 km
Lorzetributary117 km
Mellingen6,319 people144 km
Lake Lucerneat 328 m159 km
050100159 km
  1. 0 kmCanton of Uriat 1,435 m
  2. 0 kmRealp153 people
  3. 0 kmHospental186 people
  4. 3 kmAndermatt1,578 people
  5. 7 kmGöschenen462 people
  6. 12 kmWassen398 people
  7. 17 kmGurtnellen558 people
  8. 22 kmSBB power station
  9. 25 kmSilenen1,949 people
  10. 29 kmErstfeld3,787 people
  11. 32 kmAttinghausen1,787 people
  12. 33 kmSchattdorf5,418 people
  13. 38 kmAltdorf10,495 people
  14. 39 kmSeedorf1,858 people
  15. 41 kmFlüelen1,972 people
  16. 52 kmIngenbohl7,967 people
  17. 79 kmMeggen6,533 people
  18. 83 kmLake Lucerne110 km²
  19. 84 kmEngelberg House
  20. 84 kmSchwytzer von Buonas House
  21. 84 kmChapel Bridge
  22. 84 kmLuzern81,691 people
  23. 84 kmLucerne86,234 people
  24. 84 kmMühlenplatz power plant
  25. 84 kmReusswehr (Mühlesporne, Nadelwehr)
  26. 84 kmKriens25,010 people
  27. 86 kmLittau16,121 people
  28. 87 kmKleine Emmetributary
  29. 88 kmRotsee0.4 km²
  30. 89 kmEmmen29,292 people
  31. 94 kmEbikon13,610 people
  32. 94 kmBuchrain6,235 people
  33. 97 kmInwil2,557 people
  34. 99 kmRoot5,040 people
  35. 100 kmGisikon1,387 people
  36. 101 kmHonau395 people
  37. 102 kmDietwil1,336 people
  38. 103 kmRisch10,857 people
  39. 103 kmRotkreuz10,439 people
  40. 106 kmHünenberg8,807 people
  41. 106 kmOberrüti1,534 people
  42. 108 kmSins4,259 people
  43. 114 kmMühlau1,175 people
  44. 117 kmJonenbachtributary
  45. 117 kmLorzetributary
  46. 118 kmObfelden5,340 people
  47. 119 kmMerenschwand3,549 people
  48. 121 kmturbine plant of the former Haas weaving mill
  49. 121 kmOttenbach2,555 people
  50. 122 kmJonen2,108 people
  51. 123 kmAristau1,498 people
  52. 125 kmRottenschwil857 people
  53. 126 kmUnterlunkhofen1,415 people
  54. 132 kmZufikon4,479 people
  55. 132 kmFormer old shooting range
  56. 132 kmBremgarten8,613 people
  57. 135 kmEggenwil1,053 people
  58. 136 kmKünten1,956 people
  59. 138 kmFischbach-Göslikon1,640 people
  60. 139 kmNiederwil2,830 people
  61. 141 kmStetten2,541 people
  62. 143 kmTägerig1,511 people
  63. 144 kmMellingen6,319 people
  64. 145 kmWohlenschwil1,855 people
  65. 148 kmBirrhard729 people
  66. 152 kmBirmenstorf3,066 people
  67. 155 kmWindisch7,654 people
  68. 155 kmBrugg11,177 people
  69. 156 kmGebenstorf5,807 people
  70. 159 kmLake Lucerneat 328 m

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

River in Switzerland

At the mouth it carries 130 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 19 seconds. It drops from 1,435 m to 328 m, 7.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,425 km², about the size of CV. 2.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from June to August. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.9% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • LucerneLargest city on its banks · 86,234 people
  • Zürich Airport (ZRH)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 49 km from the cityCar hire at ZRH airport (Zurich)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water99 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe4 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Reuss, month by month

Highest water: from June to August

Best months to visit: from June to September.

360
0°67 mmJan
320
2°67 mmFeb
280
5°68 mmMar
320
8°92 mmApr
400
13°109 mmMay
550
16°137 mmJun
560
18°123 mmJul
640
17°139 mmAug
510
15°93 mmSep
390
10°68 mmOct
330
5°82 mmNov
330
1°69 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 280 m³/s in the lowest month to 640 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 ZRH airport (Zurich)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

Reuss: the basin in numbers

14,942 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 4.9% of a year's flow.
  • 2.8millionpeople live in the basin
  • 194/km²people per km²
  • 1,060maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,282mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 6.1°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 3.8%covered by lakes
  • 2%glaciers
  • 2%permafrost
  • 0.7km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 57% Forest
  • 10% Cropland
  • 27% Pasture
  • 11% Towns and cities
  • 2% 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

Reuss: what you find on the way

  • 32DamsArniboden Süd, Arniboden West, Arniboden Nord and 29 more
  • 38WeirsNadelwehr, Wehr Rathausen, Reusswehr Perlen and 35 more
  • 2Locks
  • 24WaterfallsDreistäuberfälle, Lindenbach-Wasserfall, Wasserfall Tägerig and 21 more
  • 2RapidsFällbaum, Bremgartner Welle
  • 2Canoe put-ins
  • 15Boat rampsKayak and Canoe Slipway, Benzenholz, Auswasserungsstelle and 12 more
  • 57Ferry piersSeedorf UR (See), Flüelen (See), Flüelen and 54 more
  • 20MarinasGenossenschaft Bootshafen Flüelen, Bootshafen Sisikon, Föhnhafen Brunnen and 17 more
  • 7Boat rentalsRiviera Boote, Riviera Boote - Boat Rental, Swiss Classic Boats and 4 more
  • 6River beachesStrandbad Flüelen, Gruonbach, Badestrand Bauen and 3 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Reuss 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
  • 228mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Lucernekm 74 · 214 m deep110km²
  2. Rotseekm 78 · 16 m deep0.4km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (228)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Dammastock8.9 km away · prominence 1,467 m3,630m
  2. Galenstock5.6 km away · prominence 252 m3,586m
  3. Eggstock9.9 km away3,555m
  4. Schneestock9.4 km away · prominence 38 m3,608m
  5. Hinter Tierberg14 km away · prominence 185 m3,445m
  6. Tiefenstock7.1 km away · prominence 90 m3,515m
  7. Gwächtenhorn14 km away · prominence 218 m3,420m
  8. Diechterhorn11 km away · prominence 308 m3,389m

220 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Reuss: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Reuss: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth17 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

Reuss in pictures

Luzern old part of town
Simon Koopmann · CC BY-SA 2.5
Brücken über die Reuss Mündung Fellibach Kanton Uri
This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but please mention · CC BY-SA 4.0
Luzern Reussbrücke Jesuitenkirche-20130902-RM-101035
Reinhold Möller Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0
Luzern Reussbrücke Jesuitenkirche-20130902-RM-101225
Reinhold Möller Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (13)

Also: Lorze, Kleine Emme, Furkareuss, Göschener Reuss, Meienreuss, Schächen, Jonenbach, Chärstelenbach, Unteralpreuss, Gotthardreuss, Hellbühler Rotbach, Gornerbach, Torfmoosbach

In the same basin

RhineThe NetherlandsThe Netherlands1,233 km2,200 m³/sMoselleGermanyGermany544 km320 m³/sMainGermanyGermany524 km200 m³/sAareSwitzerlandSwitzerland295 km560 m³/sNeckarGermanyGermany362 km140 m³/sLahnGermanyGermany242 km54 m³/sRuhrGermanyGermany217 km79 m³/sSaarGermanyGermany246 km78 m³/sLippeGermanyGermany255 km240 m³/sIllFranceFrance217 km54 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

AareSwitzerlandSwitzerland295 km560 m³/s13 km awayLimmatSwitzerlandSwitzerland140 km100 m³/s0 km awayThurSwitzerlandSwitzerland135 km47 m³/s29 km awayBregGermanyGermany49 km9.7 m³/s54 km awayLinthSwitzerlandSwitzerland37 km55 m³/s60 km awaySaane/SarineSwitzerlandSwitzerland126 km54 m³/s90 km awayIllAustriaAustria72 km210 m³/s103 km awayIllFranceFrance217 km54 m³/s136 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q4015) · 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