River
Solimões
1,600 km from source to mouth · Brazil.
BrazilFlows into Amazon River
In numbers
Length
1,600km
Average flow
100,000m³/s
Basin
2,200,000km²
Drop
79m
from 86 m to 7 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,600 km of river and 30 stops on the way: 13 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 86 m
- 254 kmLaguna Yuri0.9 km²
- 317 kmLaguna Camuchero1.5 km²
- 364 kmCaballococha11,100 people
- 429 kmLeticia48,144 people
- 430 kmTabatinga67,182 people
- 648 kmAmaturá11,411 people
- 688 kmSanto Antônio do Içá21,243 people
- 710 kmTonantins18,897 people
- 762 kmLago Ipixuna0.4 km²
- 818 kmLago Favónio0.4 km²
- 919 kmFonte Boa16,060 people
- 1,040 kmUarini15,278 people
- 1,071 kmAlvarães16,670 people
- 1,085 kmLake Tefé253 km²
- 1,089 kmTefé Rivertributary
- 1,114 kmLago Caiambé26 km²
- 1,141 kmLago Taruá18 km²
- 1,235 kmLago de Coari642 km²
- 1,248 kmLago Mamiá181 km²
- 1,264 kmLago do Boto0.9 km²
- 1,266 kmLago Ajurá2.2 km²
- 1,268 kmLago do Amaxari0.3 km²
- 1,318 kmLago Miuá35 km²
- 1,331 kmCodajás29,168 people
- 1,375 kmAnori17,932 people
- 1,392 kmPurus Rivertributary
- 1,400 kmAnamã10,318 people
- 1,443 kmLago Supia1.3 km²
- 1,494 kmManaquiri9,981 people
- 1,520 kmLago Preto0.4 km²
- 1,600 kmAmazon Riverat 7 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River
At the mouth it carries 100,000 m³/s on average: 40 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 86 m to 7 m, 0.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,200,000 km², about the size of CD. 15.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from March to June. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- TabatingaLargest city on its banks · 67,182 people
- Tabatinga International Airport (TBT)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 3 km from the cityCar hire at RBR airport (Rio Branco)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water41 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Solimões, month by month
Highest water: from March to June
Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 71,600 m³/s in the lowest month to 135,800 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
Solimões: the basin in numbers
2,216,702 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 15.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 7/km²people per km²
- 619maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,302mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.8°Caverage air temperature
- 38%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 0.8km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 82% Forest
- 2% Cropland
- 5% Pasture
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
Solimões: what you find on the way
- 2WaterfallsCascada de Lo Yaguas, Cascada Real Yaguas
- 40Ferry piersIquitos, Puerto Pesquero Artesanal, Puerto Henry and 37 more
- 1MarinasPuerto Santa Rosa
- 3River beachesIsla Ronda, Praia de São Francisco do Tonantins, Praia de Tonantins
From OpenStreetMap, within 3.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Solimões 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.
15lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (15)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Tefékm 1,477253km²
- Lago Caiambékm 1,51626km²
- Lago Taruákm 1,55418km²
- Lago de Coarikm 1,682642km²
- Lago Mamiákm 1,699181km²
- Lago do Botokm 1,7210.9km²
- Lago Ajurákm 1,7242.2km²
- Lago Miuákm 1,79435km²
7 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Solimões in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Amazon RiverBrazil6,400 km209,000 m³/sIn the same basin
Brazil2,250 km30,000 m³/sMadeira RiverBrazil1,450 km31,200 m³/sMarañón River
Peru1,737 km16,700 m³/sUcayali RiverPeru1,460 km12,600 m³/sJapurá RiverBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/sXingu RiverBrazil1,640 km9,700 m³/sMamoré RiverBrazil1,930 km11,600 m³/sJuruá RiverBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/sTapajós RiverBrazil1,930 km13,000 m³/sPutumayo RiverBrazil1,610 km7,000 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2844812) · 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 — 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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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
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit