River
River Shannon
368 km from source to mouth · Ireland.
IrelandFlows into Shannon Estuary1st longest in Ireland
In numbers
Length
368km
Average flow
200m³/s
Basin
15,700km²
Drop
60m
from 49 m to -11 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
368 km of river and 30 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmShannon Potat 49 m
- 29 kmLough Allen32 km²
- 49 kmLough Drumharlow2.6 km²
- 52 kmCarrick-on-Shannon4,743 people
- 57 kmLough Corry1.2 km²
- 64 kmJamestown Bridge
- 74 kmDrumsna Railway Bridge
- 88 kmLough Boderg9.3 km²
- 89 kmRoosky329 people
- 89 kmRoosky Bridge
- 168 kmLough Ree103 km²
- 170 kmShannon Road Bridge
- 170 kmAthlone22,869 people
- 192 kmClonmacnoise Castle
- 205 kmRiver Sucktributary
- 219 kmRiver Brosnatributary
- 223 kmBanagher Bridge
- 240 kmLittle Brosna Rivertributary
- 252 kmPortumna bridge
- 310 kmKillaloe Bridge
- 319 kmLough Derg114 km²
- 337 kmMulkear Rivertributary
- 338 kmCastletroy14,733 people
- 339 kmThe Living Bridge
- 347 kmArdnacrusha power plant
- 347 kmArdnacrusha1,169 people
- 349 kmMoyross4,448 people
- 351 kmLimerick102,287 people
- 353 kmShannon Bridge
- 358 kmLimerick Tunnel
- 360 kmCarrigogunnell
- 368 kmShannon Estuaryat -11 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Longest river in Ireland
At the mouth it carries 200 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 12 seconds. It drops from 49 m to -11 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 15,700 km², about the size of TL. 471,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. Its dams hold back little of its water (6.9% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- LimerickLargest city on its banks · 102,287 people
- Shannon Airport (SNN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 21 km from the cityCar hire at SNN airport (Shannon)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water114 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
River Shannon, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 110 m³/s in the lowest month to 350 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
River Shannon: the basin in numbers
11,770 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 471,000people live in the basin
- 41/km²people per km²
- 89maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,015mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.0°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 3.3%covered by lakes
- 0.5km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 5% Forest
- 9% Cropland
- 41% Pasture
- 1% 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 Shannon: what you find on the way
- 17WeirsAthlone Weir, Meelick Weir, Parteen Weir and 14 more
- 62LocksLough Allen Canal, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Roosky Lock and 59 more
- 7WaterfallsCurragower Falls and 6 more
- 54Boat rampsDromod Harbour Slipway, Rynn Marina, Ballyleague-Lanesborough and 51 more
- 2Ferry piers
- 53MarinasLeitrim Quay, Leitrim Marina, Carrick-on-Shannon Boat Club and 50 more
- 1River beachesYurty's Couch
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
River Shannon 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.
6lakes on its wayLakeyas
8mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (6)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lough Allenkm 20 · 31 m deep32km²
- Lough Drumharlowkm 352.6km²
- Lough Corrykm 401.2km²
- Lough Bodergkm 629.3km²
- Lough Reekm 118 · 35 m deep103km²
- Lough Dergkm 224 · 8 m deep114km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (8)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cuilcagh7.9 km away · prominence 606 m665m
- Belmore Mountain13 km away · prominence 322 m398m
- Benaughlin Mountain12 km away · prominence 313 m373m
- Thur Mountain11 km away
- Tiltinbane4.3 km away
- Benbrack (Cavan)11 km away · prominence 147 m
- Bencroy12 km away
- Giants Leap4.5 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
River Shannon in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (10)
Also: River Brosna, River Feale, River Suck, River Inny, River Deel, Little Brosna River, Mulkear River, Boyle River, River Camlin, Owenmore River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Ireland90 km45 m³/s88 km awayMunster BlackwaterIreland168 km89 m³/s97 km awaySuirIreland184 km88 m³/s124 km awayRiver NoreIreland140 km51 m³/s123 km awayBarrowIreland192 km110 m³/s124 km awayRiver SlaneyIreland117 km40 m³/s155 km awayLiffeyIreland125 km14 m³/s185 km awayRiver BoyneIreland112 km46 m³/s203 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q192820) · 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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