River
San
444 km from source to mouth · Poland and Ukraine.
Poland and UkraineFlows into Vistula6th longest in Poland
In numbers
Length
444km
Average flow
120m³/s
Basin
16,700km²
Drop
522m
from 658 m to 136 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
444 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 14 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmCarpathiansat 658 m
- 91 kmLake Solina16 km²
- 97 kmLake Myczkowce1.1 km²
- 112 kmLesko5,700 people
- 129 kmZagórz5,129 people
- 130 kmOsławatributary
- 136 kmSanok39,684 people
- 152 kmTyrawkatributary
- 186 kmDynów6,065 people
- 189 kmBachórz1,077 people
- 254 kmOrląt Przemyskich Bridge in Przemyśl
- 254 kmPrzemyśl67,013 people
- 256 kmŻurawica4,702 people
- 260 kmWiartributary
- 289 kmVyshniatributary
- 294 kmRadymno5,464 people
- 294 kmRadymno Lake0.4 km²
- 299 kmShklo (river)tributary
- 308 kmJarosław36,303 people
- 327 kmLubaczówkatributary
- 342 kmWisłoktributary
- 347 kmWierzawice3,408 people
- 351 kmLeżajsk13,958 people
- 355 kmZłotatributary
- 364 kmTrzebośnicatributary
- 381 kmRudnik nad Sanem6,770 people
- 387 kmTanewtributary
- 397 kmNisko15,573 people
- 410 kmStalowa Wola66,495 people
- 413 kmBukowatributary
- 444 kmVistulaat 136 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Poland and Ukraine
At the mouth it carries 124 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 20 seconds. It drops from 658 m to 136 m, 1.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 16,700 km², about the size of SZ. 1.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to May; lowest: from December to February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (14% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- PrzemyślLargest city on its banks · 67,013 people
- Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport (RZE)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 64 km from the cityCar hire at RZE airport (Jasionka)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water61 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
San, month by month
Highest water: from March to May
Lowest water: from December to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 63 m³/s in the lowest month to 210 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
San: the basin in numbers
16,769 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 103/km²people per km²
- 308maverage altitude of the basin
- 651mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 7.2°Caverage air temperature
- 37%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 0.5km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 44% Forest
- 35% Cropland
- 14% Pasture
- 5% 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
San: what you find on the way
- 31WeirsUjęcie wody w Zagórzu, Jaz piętrzący wodę and 29 more
- 1Locks
- 1Waterfalls
- 1Canoe put-ins
- 10Boat ramps
- 10Ferry piersPort Polańczyk (Polańczyk Amfiteatr), Przystań przy Zaporze, Prom w Wyszatycach and 7 more
- 30MarinasWZW Jawor - Przystan, Port WZW Jawor, Przystań KZŻ and 27 more
- 6River beachesZielona plaża, Wyspa Mała, Plaża Ostrów and 3 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
San 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
17mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Solinakm 80 · 60 m deep16km²
- Lake Myczkowcekm 861.1km²
- Radymno Lakekm 2590.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (17)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Tarnica13 km away · prominence 494 m1,346m
- Krzemień14 km away1,335m
- Bukowe Berdo14 km away1,311m
- Rozsypaniec10 km away1,280m
- Kińczyk Bukowski5.9 km away1,251m
- Wołowy10 km away1,248m
- Opołonek2.0 km away1,028m
- Wołowe Berdo15 km away1,121m
9 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
San in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
VistulaPoland1,047 km1,100 m³/sTributaries (23)
Also: Osława, Vyshnia, Wiar, Lubaczówka, Tanew, Stupnica, Wołosaty, Złota, Shklo (river), Bukowa, Hoczewka, Trzebośnica, Tyrawka, Rada, Łęg Rokietnicki, Sanoczek, Biber, Czarny, Przykopa, Khalich, Malinianka, Łukawica
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q216488) · 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 island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit