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River

Vardar

388 km from source to mouth · Greece and North Macedonia.

GreeceNorth MacedoniaGreece and North MacedoniaFlows into Aegean Sea2nd longest in Greece

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthSkopje
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

388km

Average flow

180m³/s

Basin

24,438km²

Drop

571m

from 570 m to -1 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

388 km of river and 41 stops on the way: 27 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

570 m-1 m
Šar Mountainsat 570 m0 km
Penatributary40 km
Lepenactributary92 km
Skopje422,540 people98 km
Lake Mladost0.5 km²150 km
Topolkatributary161 km
Negotino19,515 people217 km
Bošavatributary239 km
Gevgelija20,664 people293 km
Polýkastro7,064 people317 km
Aegean Seaat -1 m388 km
0100200300388 km
  1. 0 kmŠar Mountainsat 570 m
  2. 0 kmVrutok5,999 people
  3. 4 kmBridge of Democracy
  4. 5 kmGostivar50,974 people
  5. 5 kmDolna Banjica10,147 people
  6. 14 kmForino3,637 people
  7. 17 kmCegrane12,523 people
  8. 31 kmČelopek4,731 people
  9. 33 kmBrvenica16,267 people
  10. 40 kmZelino25,422 people
  11. 40 kmPenatributary
  12. 56 kmJegunovce7,313 people
  13. 85 kmKondovo11,656 people
  14. 86 kmSaraj25,379 people
  15. 88 kmTreskatributary
  16. 89 kmGjorče Petro41,000 people
  17. 92 kmLepenactributary
  18. 97 kmČair64,773 people
  19. 98 kmStone Bridge in Skopje
  20. 98 kmSkopje422,540 people
  21. 98 kmArt Bridge
  22. 107 kmKisela Voda58,216 people
  23. 107 kmMarko's Rivertributary
  24. 116 kmStudeničani18,219 people
  25. 120 kmPetrovec8,298 people
  26. 125 kmZelenikovo4,020 people
  27. 138 kmPčinjatributary
  28. 150 kmLake Mladost0.5 km²
  29. 157 kmVeles57,873 people
  30. 161 kmTopolkatributary
  31. 163 kmBabuna Rivertributary
  32. 182 kmBregalnicatributary
  33. 187 kmGradsko3,737 people
  34. 196 kmCrnatributary
  35. 217 kmNegotino19,515 people
  36. 239 kmBošavatributary
  37. 240 kmDemir Kapija4,451 people
  38. 293 kmGevgelija20,664 people
  39. 317 kmAxioúpoli4,794 people
  40. 317 kmPolýkastro7,064 people
  41. 369 kmChalástra9,066 people
  42. 371 kmKýmina3,210 people
  43. 388 kmAegean Seaat -1 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in North Macedonia and Greece

At the mouth it carries 183 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 14 seconds. It drops from 570 m to -1 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 24,438 km², about the size of MK. 2.0 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to January; lowest: from August to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (22% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Vardar, month by month

Highest water: from December to January

Lowest water: from August to September. Best months to visit: from June to October.

380
2°38 mmJan
310
4°37 mmFeb
250
8°40 mmMar
210
13°40 mmApr
220
17°56 mmMay
170
21°42 mmJun
120
24°33 mmJul
53
23°28 mmAug
54
20°34 mmSep
130
14°45 mmOct
290
8°58 mmNov
390
4°50 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 53 m³/s in the lowest month to 390 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

Car hire at SKP airport (Ilinden)Discover CarsSee 

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

Vardar: the basin in numbers

24,503 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 22% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 2.0millionpeople live in the basin
  • 82/km²people per km²
  • 749maverage altitude of the basin
  • 601mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 10.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 5%protected areas
  • 0.3%covered by lakes
  • 1.3km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 27% Forest
  • 27% Cropland
  • 24% Pasture
  • 4% 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

Vardar: what you find on the way

  • 5Dams
  • 18Weirs
  • 1Locks
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 2River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Vardar 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
  • 7mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Mladostkm 1310.5km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (7)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Morava7.6 km away2,147m
  2. Aramiski Kamen13 km away1,746m
  3. Brina13 km away1,121m
  4. Mala Kaljaja10 km away959m
  5. Srbinovska Krasta12 km away902m
  6. Rusino5.8 km away786m
  7. Zabel9.9 km away561m

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Vardar: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Vardar: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth21 km across

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

Vardar in pictures

River Vardar (1)
Perdika · CC0
River Vardar (2)
Perdika · CC0
Pedestrian bridge Vardar Skopje 2
kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vardar Skopje 2
kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (25)

BregalnicaNorth MacedoniaNorth Macedonia225 km28 m³/sjoins at km 159CrnaNorth MacedoniaNorth Macedonia207 km37 m³/sjoins at km 171TreskaNorth MacedoniaNorth Macedonia132 km2,300 m³/sjoins at km 77PčinjaNorth MacedoniaNorth Macedonia128 km14 m³/sjoins at km 121

Also: Lepenac, Pena, Babuna River, Kadina River, Serava, Anska Reka, Topolka, Bošava, Došnica, Marko's River, Rakita River, Luda Mara, Mega Rema, Belovisjka Reka, Timjanik River, Stara Reka, Bogovinjska river, Seirios potamos, Kovanska River, Konska River, Železna Reka

Nearby

Rivers nearby

HaliacmonGreeceGreece297 km56 m³/s6 km awayPineiosGreeceGreece216 km67 m³/s70 km awayStrumaGreeceGreece415 km80 m³/s102 km awayStrumicaBulgariaBulgaria114 km100 m³/s115 km awayCrnaNorth MacedoniaNorth Macedonia207 km37 m³/s131 km awayBregalnicaNorth MacedoniaNorth Macedonia225 km28 m³/s139 km awayDospatGreeceGreece97 km20 m³/s151 km awayNestosGreeceGreece230 km40 m³/s181 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q189596) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit