River
Yser
78 km from source to mouth · Belgium and France.
Belgium and FranceFlows into North Sea8th longest in Belgium
In numbers
Length
78km
Average flow
15m³/s
Basin
1,101km²
Drop
11m
from 8 m to -3 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
78 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 11 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 8 m
- 0 kmWormhout5,216 people
- 8 kmHerzeele1,328 people
- 17 kmRoesbrugge-Haringe1,001 people
- 29 kmVleteren3,659 people
- 33 kmAlveringem5,089 people
- 34 kmLo-Reninge3,289 people
- 37 kmReninge1,064 people
- 41 kmKnokkebrug
- 50 kmDiksmuide15,515 people
- 58 kmTervate bridge
- 59 kmKeiem1,318 people
- 69 kmUniebrug
- 74 kmNieuwpoort11,488 people
- 76 kmGrote Vierboete
- 76 kmLombardsijde1,348 people
- 78 kmNieuwpoort Lighthouse
- 78 kmNorth Seaat -3 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in northern France and Belgium
At the mouth it carries 15 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 167 seconds. Its basin covers 1,101 km², about the size of MQ. 306,000 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
- DiksmuideLargest city on its banks · 15,515 people
- Ostend-Bruges International Airport (OST)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 19 km from the cityCar hire at LIL airport (Lesquin)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water22 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Yser, month by month
Highest water: from November to December
Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 9.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 36 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
Yser: the basin in numbers
1,554 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 306,000people live in the basin
- 197/km²people per km²
- 16maverage altitude of the basin
- 678mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 10.2°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 58% Cropland
- 19% Pasture
- 11% 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
Yser: what you find on the way
- 8Weirs
- 8LocksLokanaal, Kanaal Plassendale - Duinkerke, IJzer and 5 more
- 11Boat ramps
- 8Ferry piersIJzerstar boottochten, opstapsteiger Seastar havenrondvaart and 6 more
- 3MarinasWesthoek Marina, Novus Portus, Oude Jachthaven
- 1River beachesStrandreservaat IJzermonding
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Yser 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.
2beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Klein Strand Oostende16 km away18.7°C
- Groenendijk Strand1.7 km away18.6°C
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mont Cassel8.4 km away177m
- Mont des Récollets8.6 km away160m
- Le Ryveld6.7 km away67m
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
Yser in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (2)
Also: Peene Becque, Ey Becque
Nearby
Rivers nearby
The Netherlands1,233 km2,200 m³/s133 km awayLysBelgium202 km22 m³/s72 km awayAa RiverFrance89 km10 m³/s46 km awayMeuseThe Netherlands950 km230 m³/s149 km awayDenderBelgium65 km8.8 m³/s97 km awayRiver SommeFrance245 km35 m³/s132 km awayRiver Thames
United Kingdom334 km66 m³/s171 km awaySenneBelgium103 km5.5 m³/s115 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q217061) · 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 | 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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lakes
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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