River
Soča
138 km from source to mouth · Italy and Slovenia.
Italy and SloveniaFlows into Adriatic Sea
In numbers
Length
138km
Average flow
140m³/s
Basin
3,400km²
Drop
460m
from 457 m to -3 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
138 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 21 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmJulian Alpsat 457 m
- 14 kmBovec1,631 people
- 20 kmBoka
- 33 kmKozjak Falls
- 35 kmNapoleon bridge on Soča
- 35 kmKobarid1,121 people
- 54 kmTolmin3,534 people
- 58 kmIdrijcatributary
- 73 kmKanal1,269 people
- 78 kmDeskle1,279 people
- 92 kmSolkan Bridge
- 92 kmSolkan3,227 people
- 93 kmNova Gorica13,031 people
- 93 kmKromberk2,081 people
- 98 kmGorizia34,428 people
- 105 kmPonte romano di Mainizza
- 109 kmFarra d'Isonzo1,360 people
- 111 kmVipavatributary
- 111 kmGradisca d'Isonzo6,431 people
- 114 kmSagrado1,300 people
- 116 kmFogliano1,715 people
- 118 kmVillesse1,659 people
- 119 kmSan Pier d'Isonzo1,552 people
- 121 kmRuda1,399 people
- 123 kmTurriaco2,749 people
- 126 kmPieris3,140 people
- 126 kmFiumicello4,297 people
- 127 kmSan Valentino3,277 people
- 128 kmTorretributary
- 129 kmSan Canzian d'Isonzo1,679 people
- 138 kmAdriatic Seaat -3 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Slovenian-Italian river
At the mouth it carries 140 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 18 seconds. It drops from 457 m to -3 m, 3.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,400 km², about the size of CV. 308,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to December. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- GoriziaLargest city on its banks · 34,428 people
- Trieste Airport (TRS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the cityCar hire at TRS airport (Ronchi dei Legionari/Trieste)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe16 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Soča, month by month
Highest water: from November to December
Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 73 m³/s in the lowest month to 200 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
Soča: the basin in numbers
3,327 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 308,000people live in the basin
- 93/km²people per km²
- 581maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,276mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.7°Caverage air temperature
- 42%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 66% Forest
- 13% Cropland
- 13% 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
Soča: what you find on the way
- 12Weirs
- 2Locks
- 23WaterfallsSlap Virje, Slap Boka, Spodnji slap Globoškega potoka and 20 more
- 11RapidsBunkerschwall and 10 more
- 5Canoe put-insPod Velikimi Koriti, Zmukljica, Sotočje Soče in Koritnice and 2 more
- 4Boat rampsPrilesje pri Plavah and 3 more
- 5MarinasAssociazione sportiva dilettantistica Punta Barene - Staranzano and 4 more
- 3River beachesKobarid Beach, Lido di Staranzano
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Soča 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.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
5beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
107mountains at the sourcePeakyas
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Bokakm 18
- Kozjak Fallskm 29
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Beaches (5)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Bagni Comunali Lanterna21 km away25.4°C
- Spiaggia di Marina Julia3.2 km away25.4°C
- Spiaggia Lido di Fido12 km away25.5°C
- Spiaggia di Grado13 km away25.5°C
- Spiaggia Costa Azzurra13 km away25.5°C
Mountains at the source (107)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Triglav9.5 km away · prominence 2,059 m2,864m
- Škrlatica7.9 km away · prominence 982 m2,740m
- Jalovec3.4 km away · prominence 511 m2,645m
- Mangart6.1 km away · prominence 1,066 m2,678m
- Razor5.3 km away · prominence 332 m2,601m
- Prisojnik3.8 km away · prominence 547 m2,547m
- Kanjavec8.8 km away · prominence 438 m2,568m
- Špik8.1 km away · prominence 295 m2,472m
99 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Barbana8.9 km away
- Otok28 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
Soča in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (7)
Also: Vipava, Torre, Koritnica, Tolminka, Uccea, Koren
Nearby
Rivers nearby
AustriaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q202760) · 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 | Cascadyas, 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.
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit