River
Río Grande de Santiago
433 km from source to mouth · Mexico.
MexicoFlows into Pacific Ocean8th longest in Mexico
In numbers
Length
433km
Average flow
300m³/s
Basin
76,400km²
Drop
1,522m
from 1,522 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
433 km of river and 21 stops on the way: 17 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Chapalaat 1,522 m
- 0 kmLake Chapala1,052 km²
- 3 kmCuitzeo (La Estancia)5,603 people
- 4 kmOcotlán83,769 people
- 19 kmPoncitlán13,581 people
- 36 kmAtotonilquillo7,249 people
- 38 kmAtequiza6,498 people
- 50 kmGalaxia Bonito Jalisco9,082 people
- 52 kmJuanacatlán9,133 people
- 52 kmJuanacatlán Falls
- 53 kmEl Salto21,644 people
- 56 kmCentro de Readaptación Social13,071 people
- 58 kmPuente Grande5,664 people
- 60 kmLa Laja3,069 people
- 75 kmCoyula29,674 people
- 85 kmPuente de Arcediano
- 209 kmBolaños Rivertributary
- 366 kmYago3,965 people
- 380 kmSantiago Ixcuintla18,241 people
- 380 kmLa Presa4,241 people
- 388 kmVilla Hidalgo9,908 people
- 412 kmVilla Juárez3,000 people
- 433 kmPacific Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Mexico
At the mouth it carries 301 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.3 seconds. It drops from 1,522 m to 0 m, 3.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 76,400 km², about the size of PA. 19.3 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from February to May. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 106% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- OcotlánLargest city on its banks · 83,769 people
- Guadalajara International Airport (GDL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 60 km from the cityCar hire at GDL airport (Guadalajara)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From January to April and NovemberThe best months to visit
Río Grande de Santiago, month by month
Highest water: September
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from January to April and November.
From about 77 m³/s in the lowest month to 860 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
Río Grande de Santiago: the basin in numbers
122,677 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 19.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 158/km²people per km²
- 1,895maverage altitude of the basin
- 734mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 17.9°Caverage air temperature
- 14%protected areas
- 1.2%covered by lakes
- 10km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 49% Forest
- 26% Cropland
- 30% Pasture
- 5% 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
Río Grande de Santiago: what you find on the way
- 2WeirsPresa de Colimilla
- 14WaterfallsCascada de Huentitán, Cola de Caballo, Beautiful secret waterfall and 11 more
- 5Boat ramps
- 5Ferry piers
- 3River beachesARENA BEACH ARENAL LERMA, AREA DE AGUA NATURAL MARINA, AREANA CHARCA
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Río Grande de Santiago 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
2beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Juanacatlán Fallskm 63
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Chapalakm 0 · 10 m deep1,052km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa El Borrego22 km away30.5°C
- Playa los Corchos6.2 km away30.5°C
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Jamay9.8 km away
- Cerro Gomeño11 km away
- Cerro Grande8.1 km away
- Cerro El Chiquihuitillo4.9 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
Río Grande de Santiago in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Bolaños River, Huaynamota River, Juchipila River, Río Santo Tomas
In the same basin
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2302661) · 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Coastya, 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
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit