Skip to content
riveryas
EN

River

River Forth

47 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.

United KingdomUnited KingdomFlows into Firth of Forth

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

47km

Average flow

61m³/s

Basin

1,531km²

Drop

23m

from 23 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

47 km of river and 35 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

50 m0 m
Sourceat 23 m0 km
Lake of Menteith2.1 km²6 km
Cardross Bridge12 km
Kippen1,110 people19 km
Bridge of Frew20 km
Meiklewood Suspension Bridge26 km
Cambusbarron3,224 people31 km
Stirling37,910 people37 km
Allan Watertributary37 km
Black Devontributary44 km
Firth of Forthat 0 m47 km
01020304047 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 23 m
  2. 0 kmLoch Àrd1.8 km²
  3. 2 kmForth Bridge, Aberfoyle
  4. 5 kmCobleland Bridge
  5. 6 kmForth Viaduct
  6. 6 kmGartrenich Bridge
  7. 6 kmLake of Menteith2.1 km²
  8. 12 kmCardross Bridge
  9. 15 kmPoldar Bridge
  10. 19 kmKippen1,110 people
  11. 20 kmBridge of Frew
  12. 24 kmBridge of Offers
  13. 24 kmGargunnock Bridge
  14. 26 kmMeiklewood Suspension Bridge
  15. 26 kmBridge, River Forth, Meiklewood House
  16. 31 kmCambusbarron3,224 people
  17. 32 kmDrip Bridge
  18. 33 kmStirling, M9 bridge
  19. 33 kmStirling, pipe and pedestrian bridge across River Forth
  20. 34 kmBridge of Allan5,320 people
  21. 35 kmbridge, Kildean
  22. 36 kmOld Bridge
  23. 36 kmStirling, remains of former bridge to N of Stirling Old Bridge
  24. 36 kmNew Bridge
  25. 36 kmCaledonian Railway Bridge, Stirling
  26. 36 kmNorth British Railway Bridge, Stirling
  27. 37 kmCambuskenneth footbridge
  28. 37 kmStirling37,910 people
  29. 37 kmAllan Watertributary
  30. 39 kmTaylorton Bridge
  31. 42 kmFallin2,850 people
  32. 42 kmBannock Burntributary
  33. 44 kmBlack Devontributary
  34. 44 kmTullibody8,710 people
  35. 46 kmAlloa Swing Bridge
  36. 47 kmAlloa20,390 people
  37. 47 kmFirth of Forthat 0 m

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

River in Scotland, flows into the Firth of Forth

At the mouth it carries 61 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 41 seconds. It drops from 23 m to 0 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,531 km², about the size of GP. 109,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to January. Its dams hold back little of its water (5.0% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

River Forth, month by month

Highest water: from November to January

Best months to visit: from June to August.

96
3°105 mmJan
73
3°70 mmFeb
62
5°79 mmMar
41
7°53 mmApr
33
10°64 mmMay
28
14°62 mmJun
29
15°70 mmJul
38
15°83 mmAug
56
12°98 mmSep
74
9°106 mmOct
85
5°101 mmNov
93
4°104 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 28 m³/s in the lowest month to 96 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 EDI airport (Ingliston, Edinburgh)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

River Forth: the basin in numbers

1,531 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 5.0% of a year's flow.
  • 109,000people live in the basin
  • 72/km²people per km²
  • 235maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,395mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 7.3°Caverage air temperature
  • 43%protected areas
  • 1.9%covered by lakes
  • 0.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 2% Forest
  • 10% Cropland
  • 49% Pasture
  • 4% 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

River Forth: what you find on the way

  • 2Dams
  • 1Weirs
  • 5WaterfallsRedhall Burn Waterfall, Touch Burn Waterfall and 3 more
  • 1Boat ramps

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

River Forth 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
  • 23mountains at the sourcePeakyas
  • 2islands off the mouthIslandyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Loch Àrdkm 01.8km²
  2. Lake of Menteithkm 7 · 23 m deep2.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (23)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Ben Lomond12 km away · prominence 820 m974m
  2. Ben Ledi11 km away · prominence 528 m879m
  3. Ben Venue4.0 km away729m
  4. Benvane13 km away · prominence 215 m821m
  5. Beinn an Fhogharaidh2.7 km away616m
  6. Ben A'an7.0 km away454m
  7. Conic Hill11 km away · prominence 153 m361m
  8. Craigmore2.5 km away387m

15 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

Islands off the mouth (2)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Inch Garvie29 km away0.0km²
  2. Inch0.5 km away

Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

River Forth: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
River Forth: 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.

Photos

River Forth in pictures

Craig Forth Hill & the River Forth from Drip Bridge, Stirling Council
Rosser1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Blackness Castle on the river Forth
VictorPaulK · CC BY-SA 4.0
New Drip Bridge view over the River Forth, Stirling Council. View North
Rosser1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0
River Forth (Explored 07-03-24) - Flickr - jkiscycling
John Knight from Clackmannanshire, Scotland · CC BY 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (7)

Also: River Teith, River Devon, Allan Water, Black Devon, Duchray Water, Bannock Burn, Kelty Water

Nearby

Rivers nearby

River TayUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom193 km170 m³/s42 km awayRiver ClydeUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom176 km90 m³/s46 km awayRiver TweedUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom156 km89 m³/s119 km awayRiver DeeUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom154 km44 m³/s158 km awayRiver SpeyUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom172 km64 m³/s180 km awayRiver DonUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom131 km21 m³/s160 km awayRiver TyneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom100 km63 m³/s193 km awayRiver WearUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom96 km21 m³/s202 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q2421) · 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, Islandyas — 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