River
Ulúa River
358 km from source to mouth · Honduras.
HondurasFlows into Gulf of Honduras3rd longest in Honduras
In numbers
Length
358km
Average flow
440m³/s
Basin
22,817km²
Drop
769m
from 769 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
358 km of river and 7 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmIntibucá Departmentat 769 m
- 1 kmTalanga13,492 people
- 102 kmSulaco18,161 people
- 119 kmVictoria34,215 people
- 176 kmRepresa General Francisco Morazán80 km²
- 208 kmSanta Rita21,536 people
- 237 kmSan Manuel6,389 people
- 254 kmEl Progreso100,810 people
- 358 kmGulf of Hondurasat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Honduras
At the mouth it carries 443 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.6 seconds. It drops from 769 m to 0 m, 2.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 22,817 km², about the size of BZ. 1.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to November; lowest: from February to May. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 51% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- El ProgresoLargest city on its banks · 100,810 people
- Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport (SAP)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 14 km from the cityCar hire at SAP airport (San Pedro Sula)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From January to MarchThe best months to visit
Ulúa River, month by month
Highest water: from August to November
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from January to March.
From about 91 m³/s in the lowest month to 900 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
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The basin
Ulúa River: the basin in numbers
21,882 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 88/km²people per km²
- 893maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,561mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 22.0°Caverage air temperature
- 16%protected areas
- 0.7%covered by lakes
- 7.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 42% Forest
- 19% Cropland
- 15% Pasture
- 3% 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
Ulúa River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsCascada El Zapotal
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ulúa River 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
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Represa General Francisco Morazánkm 17080km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Tranquilas4.8 km away
- Cerro Pacaya13 km away
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
Ulúa River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Higuito River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Guatemala486 km310 m³/s60 km awayDulce RiverGuatemala43 km340 m³/s123 km awayBelize River
Belize290 km200 m³/s190 km awayMopan RiverBelize38 km93 m³/s201 km awayHondo River
Mexico150 km130 m³/s293 km awayGoascorán River
El Salvador130 km33 m³/s276 km awayLempa RiverEl Salvador422 km360 m³/s317 km awayPasión RiverGuatemala353 km320 m³/s309 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2419404) · 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, 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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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit