River
Rioni
327 km from source to mouth · Georgia.
GeorgiaFlows into Black Sea2nd longest in Georgia
In numbers
Length
327km
Average flow
400m³/s
Basin
13,400km²
Drop
1,555m
from 1,553 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
327 km of river and 23 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmCaucasus Mountainsat 1,553 m
- 41 kmSakauratributary
- 46 kmGarulatributary
- 51 kmJejora rivertributary
- 70 kmLukhunistskalitributary
- 76 kmAmbrolauri2,015 people
- 116 kmLajanuratributary
- 156 kmGumati Reservoir0.7 km²
- 165 kmRed Bridge
- 166 kmKutaisi135,201 people
- 179 kmQvirila Rivertributary
- 182 kmVartsikhe Reservoir1.2 km²
- 183 kmVartsikhe cascade spillway dam
- 183 kmVartsikhe cascade earth-fill dam
- 183 kmKhanistskalitributary
- 206 kmVani3,151 people
- 208 kmSulori Rivertributary
- 220 kmGubistskalitributary
- 227 kmSamtredia21,063 people
- 235 kmTskhenistsqalitributary
- 260 kmNoghelatributary
- 271 kmTekhuritributary
- 278 kmTsivi Rivertributary
- 315 kmPoti Lighthouse
- 327 kmBlack Seaat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in western Georgia
At the mouth it carries 405 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.2 seconds. It drops from 1,553 m to -2 m, 4.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 13,400 km², about the size of BS. 756,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KutaisiLargest city on its banks · 135,201 people
- David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport (KUT)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 20 km from the cityCar hire at KUT airport (Kopitnari)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to AugustThe best months to visit
Rioni, month by month
Highest water: from December to February
Best months to visit: from May to August.
From about 170 m³/s in the lowest month to 920 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
Rioni: the basin in numbers
13,510 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 756,000people live in the basin
- 56/km²people per km²
- 1,084maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,120mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.0°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 2%permafrost
- 0.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 52% Forest
- 13% Cropland
- 23% Pasture
- 3% 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
Rioni: what you find on the way
- 6Weirs
- 10WaterfallsWaterfall of Love, Patardzli waterfall, Alpana Waterfall and 7 more
- 1RapidsMukhli
- 2Boat ramps
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Rioni 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
7mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Gumati Reservoirkm 138 · 24 m deep0.7km²
- Vartsikhe Reservoirkm 1611.2km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (7)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Sugan13 km away · prominence 1,161 m4,487m
- Gyulchi14 km away4,491m
- Laboda9.5 km away4,313m
- Fytnargin13 km away4,123m
- Pasis-Mta3.8 km away · prominence 369 m3,805m
- Sharitau6.4 km away3,689m
- Lukhunis-Tsveri6.2 km away3,185m
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
Rioni in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (20)
Also: Tekhuri, Jejora river, Khanistskali, Lajanura, Chanchakhi, Gubistskali, Garula, Lukhunistskali, Tsivi River, Sakaura, Lekhidari, Noghela, Sulori River, Ritseula, Natsaruli, Khevistskali, Kheori, Koristskali
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Georgia213 km40 m³/s22 km awayÇoruhGeorgia438 km280 m³/s67 km awayTskhenistsqaliGeorgia184 km90 m³/s55 km awayKodori RiverGeorgia84 km140 m³/s77 km awayQvirila RiverGeorgia140 km90 m³/s90 km awayBzyb RiverGeorgia110 km97 m³/s155 km awayPsouGeorgia53 km19 m³/s187 km awayAragvi RiverGeorgia112 km33 m³/s259 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q203409) · 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 | Lakeyas, 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.
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
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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