River
Vouga River
148 km from source to mouth · Portugal.
PortugalFlows into Atlantic Ocean10th longest in Portugal
In numbers
Length
148km
Average flow
62m³/s
Basin
3,635km²
Drop
557m
from 557 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
148 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 557 m
- 49 kmSão Pedro do Sul5,497 people
- 85 kmBarragem de Ribeiradio
- 94 kmPoço de Santiago Railway Bridge
- 114 kmCaima Rivertributary
- 122 kmPateira de Fermentelos1.7 km²
- 123 kmEirol6,190 people
- 126 kmEixo5,978 people
- 139 kmCacia6,830 people
- 146 kmForte da Barra Lighthouse
- 147 kmAveiro Lighthouse
- 148 kmAtlantic Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Protected area in Portugal
At the mouth it carries 62 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 40 seconds. It drops from 557 m to 0 m, 3.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,635 km², about the size of CV. 272,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to February; lowest: from June to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- CaciaLargest city on its banks · 6,830 people
- Aerodromo Goncalves Lobato (Viseu Airport) (VSE)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 60 km from the cityCar hire at OPO airport (Porto)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Vouga River, month by month
Highest water: from December to February
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 11 m³/s in the lowest month to 130 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
Vouga River: the basin in numbers
2,494 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 272,000people live in the basin
- 109/km²people per km²
- 350maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,162mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 14.0°Caverage air temperature
- 0.1%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 84% Forest
- 8% Cropland
- 6% Pasture
- 7% 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
Vouga River: what you find on the way
- 21WeirsAçude do Rio Novo do Príncipe and 20 more
- 4WaterfallsCascata do casal, Cascata da Pena Quebrada, Cascata da Agualva and 1 more
- 3Boat ramps
- 3River beachesPraia Fluvial dos Moinhos- Sobral, Praia Fluvial do Sobral, Praia Fluvial
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Vouga 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
14beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Pateira de Fermenteloskm 911.7km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (14)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Praia da Marreta18 km away17.9°C
- Praia do Furadouro19 km away17.9°C
- Praia de São Pedro de Maceda25 km away17.9°C
- Praia da Costa Nova12 km away18.1°C
- Praia da Barra10 km away18.1°C
- Praia de São Jacinto7.4 km away18.1°C
- Praia da Costinha14 km away18.1°C
- Praia da Vagueira17 km away18.1°C
6 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Serra da Lapa1.1 km away934m
- Serra do Pereiro9.2 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
Vouga River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: río Águeda, Caima River, Mau River, Rio Lordelo, Rio Teixeira
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Portugal897 km680 m³/s50 km awayMondego RiverPortugal234 km110 m³/s64 km awayTâmega RiverPortugal184 km69 m³/s51 km awayMinho RiverPortugal315 km340 m³/s136 km awayLima RiverPortugal135 km75 m³/s111 km awayTagus RiverPortugal1,007 km500 m³/s197 km awayZêzere RiverPortugal248 km62 m³/s139 km awayÁgueda RiverPortugal176 km23 m³/s150 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q15653) · 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, Coastya, 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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