River
Salzach
225 km from source to mouth · Germany and Austria.
Germany and AustriaFlows into Inn
In numbers
Length
225km
Average flow
250m³/s
Basin
6,700km²
Drop
866m
from 1,212 m to 346 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
225 km of river and 31 stops on the way: 26 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,212 m
- 0 kmSpeicher Durlaßboden0.9 km²
- 39 kmMünster3,317 people
- 43 kmVoldöpp3,386 people
- 52 kmKundl3,771 people
- 60 kmWörgl13,811 people
- 65 kmKirchbichl5,855 people
- 74 kmKufstein9,848 people
- 78 kmKiefersfelden6,912 people
- 81 kmEbbs3,050 people
- 84 kmOberaudorf4,756 people
- 98 kmNeubeuern4,234 people
- 99 kmAltenmarkt4,219 people
- 100 kmRaubling11,382 people
- 107 kmStephanskirchen9,554 people
- 109 kmRosenheim60,167 people
- 113 kmHofstätter See0.5 km²
- 117 kmSchechen4,430 people
- 119 kmVogtareuth3,045 people
- 133 kmWasserburg am Inn12,375 people
- 138 kmSoyensee0.4 km²
- 150 kmGars3,802 people
- 167 kmWaldkraiburg24,676 people
- 169 kmKraiburg am Inn4,127 people
- 185 kmMühldorf17,622 people
- 189 kmPolling3,465 people
- 191 kmTöging am Inn9,392 people
- 196 kmWinhöring4,917 people
- 199 kmAltötting12,902 people
- 200 kmNeuötting8,741 people
- 223 kmBridge over the Salzach
- 223 kmSalzachbrücke Ach-Burghausen
- 225 kmInnat 346 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Austria and Germany
At the mouth it carries 251 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 10.0 seconds. It drops from 1,212 m to 346 m, 3.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 6,700 km², about the size of PS. 1.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to May; lowest: from December to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.7% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- RosenheimLargest city on its banks · 60,167 people
- Munich Airport (MUC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 61 km from the cityCar hire at MUC airport (Munich)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water37 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe50 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Salzach, month by month
Highest water: from March to May
Lowest water: from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 150 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
Salzach: the basin in numbers
15,706 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 89/km²people per km²
- 1,436maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,111mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 3.9°Caverage air temperature
- 21%protected areas
- 0.7%covered by lakes
- 1%glaciers
- 7%permafrost
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 66% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 32% Pasture
- 5% Towns and cities
- 1% Ice
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
Salzach: what you find on the way
- 208WeirsLauch, Kohlstatt-Wehr, Jennbach-Kaskade and 205 more
- 34WaterfallsWasserfall Talbach, Schleierwasserfall, Schlitterer Waserfall and 31 more
- 20Rapids
- 30Canoe put-ins
- 33Boat rampsInnspitz and 32 more
- 4Ferry piersFährstelle Kiefersfelden, Fährstelle Ebbs, Innfähre and 1 more
- 3River beachesFKK Happingerau See
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Salzach 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
66mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Speicher Durlaßbodenkm 00.9km²
- Hofstätter Seekm 1150.5km²
- Soyenseekm 1390.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (66)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Wildkarspitze14 km away3,073m
- Hütteltalkopf14 km away2,962m
- Kreuzjoch11 km away2,558m
- Sendlspitze14 km away2,882m
- Torhelm9.0 km away2,494m
- Kröndlhorn3.7 km away2,444m
- Salzachgeier1.2 km away2,469m
- Großer Galtenberg11 km away2,424m
58 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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
Salzach in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
InnGermany517 km740 m³/sTributaries (40)
Also: Lammer, Berchtesgadener Ache, Götzinger Achen, Sur, Fuscher Ache, Fischach, Almbach, Gasteiner Ache, Großarler Ache, Krimmler Ache, Fritztal, Kleinarler Bach, Stubache, Alterbach, Anifer Alterbach, Glanbach, Kapruner Ache, Klausbach, Untersulzbach, Taugl, Rauriser Ache, Königsseeache, Obersulzbach, Reitbach
Romania
Serbia
Croatia
MoldovaNearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q152661) · 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?
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