River
River Wye
215 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.
United KingdomFlows into Severn Estuary5th longest in United Kingdom
In numbers
Length
215km
Average flow
100m³/s
Basin
4,136km²
Drop
190m
from 188 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
215 km of river and 34 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 188 m
- 1 kmCaban-côch Reservoir1.7 km²
- 7 kmRhayader2,088 people
- 7 kmRhayader Bridge
- 8 kmpipeline bridge near Rhayader
- 31 kmWye Bridge
- 31 kmLlanelwedd436 people
- 51 kmBoughrood Bridge
- 73 kmWhitney-on-Wye toll bridge
- 84 kmBredwardine Bridge
- 107 kmBelmont3,382 people
- 109 kmWye Bridge, Hereford
- 109 kmHereford63,024 people
- 109 kmVictoria Bridge
- 118 kmRiver Luggtributary
- 135 kmSellack Bridge
- 150 kmRoss on Wye10,582 people
- 151 kmRoss-on-Wye10,990 people
- 151 kmBridstow906 people
- 151 kmWilton Bridge
- 159 kmKerne Bridge
- 171 kmHuntsham Bridge
- 177 kmBiblins Bridge
- 184 kmWye Bridge, Monmouth
- 184 kmMonmouth Castle
- 184 kmMonmouth10,508 people
- 185 kmDuke of Beaufort Bridge
- 185 kmMonmouth Viaduct Bridge
- 189 kmRiver Trothytributary
- 196 kmBigsweir Bridge
- 201 kmBrockweir Bridge
- 210 kmOld Wye Bridge
- 210 kmChepstow12,350 people
- 210 kmChepstow Railway Bridge
- 214 kmSevern Bridge
- 215 kmSevern Estuaryat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Wales and England
At the mouth it carries 104 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 24 seconds. It drops from 188 m to -2 m, 0.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 4,136 km², about the size of CV. 241,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. Its dams hold back little of its water (2.8% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- HerefordLargest city on its banks · 63,024 people
- Bristol Airport (BRS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 75 km from the cityCar hire at BRS airport (Bristol)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water31 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe5 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
River Wye, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 44 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 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 Wye: the basin in numbers
4,117 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 241,000people live in the basin
- 59/km²people per km²
- 225maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,073mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.7°Caverage air temperature
- 19%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 0.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 2% Forest
- 22% Cropland
- 55% Pasture
- 2% 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 Wye: what you find on the way
- 11WeirsYazor Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme and 10 more
- 2Locks
- 3Waterfalls
- 3RapidsSymonds Yat, Big Weir
- 2Canoe put-ins
- 23Boat rampsRoss Rowing Club, Ross Riverside Canoe Launch, Wye Pursuits Slipway and 20 more
- 4Ferry piers
- 1River beachesFossil Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
River Wye 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.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
2beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
192mountains at the sourcePeakyas
1island off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Caban-côch Reservoirkm 11.7km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Salthouse Bay24 km away · cove18.3°C
- Littleharp Bay24 km away · cove18.3°C
Mountains at the source (192)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Pumlumon Fawr1.2 km away · prominence 526 m752m
- Pen Pumlumon Arwystli1.4 km away · prominence 64 m741m
- Pen Pumlumon Llygad-bychan0.3 km away · prominence 36 m727m
- Pen y Garn10 km away · prominence 194 m611m
- Y Garn3.3 km away · prominence 56 m684m
- Pumlumon Fach1.4 km away664m
- Pen Pumlumon Llygad-bychan [Plynlimon East Top]0.3 km away724m
- Pumlumon Cwmbiga3.8 km away620m
184 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (1)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Denny Island13 km away0.0km²
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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 Wye in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: River Monnow, River Lugg, River Trothy, River Ithon
Nearby
Rivers nearby
United Kingdom354 km110 m³/s17 km awayRiver AvonUnited Kingdom154 km31 m³/s54 km awayRiver ExeUnited Kingdom88 km16 m³/s118 km awayRiver AvonUnited Kingdom96 km56 m³/s118 km awayRiver ThamesUnited Kingdom334 km66 m³/s207 km awayRiver TamarUnited Kingdom98 km50 m³/s168 km awayRiver DeeUnited Kingdom110 km30 m³/s183 km awayRiver DerwentUnited Kingdom80 km29 m³/s167 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q19695) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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, Coastya, 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
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 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit