France 
In numbers.
115m
Height
3.5m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–May
Oct
Best months
3.9MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Cascade de la Charabotte, month by month
It roars from October to May.
The fullest months: from October to May.
- 4.8 m³/sJan
- 4.1 m³/sFeb
- 5.0 m³/sMar
- 4.0 m³/sApr
- 4.0 m³/sMay
- 2.7 m³/sJun
- 1.4 m³/sJul
- 1.3 m³/sAug
- 1.3 m³/sSep
- 3.1 m³/sOct
- 4.2 m³/sNov
- 4.6 m³/sDec
From about 1.3 m³/s in the lowest month to 5.0 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to May and October.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cascade de la Charabotte is a waterfall in France. The water falls 115 m.
Getting there.
- Hauteville-Lompnesnearest town · 3.1 km in a straight line
- Parking 220 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Annecy Meythet airport (NCY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 41 km in a straight lineCar hire at LYS airport (Colombier-Saugnieu, Rhône)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From March to May and Octoberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
3.9 MW
About 3.5 m³/s falling 115 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 1.3 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 982 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 302 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 142 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 7car parks
- —swimming spots
- 7picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 8information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascade de Mélogne
- 6caves
- 2campsitesLe Pré Commun, Les 12 Cols
- 11hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmGîte de Charancin, Auberge campagnarde, La maison de pain d'épices and 8 more
- 4restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Hauteville-Lompnes3.1 km in a straight line
- Tenay6.8 km in a straight line
- Saint-Rambert-en-Bugey10 km in a straight line
- Artemare14 km in a straight line
- Virieu-le-Grand15 km in a straight line
- Jujurieux15 km in a straight line
- Saint-Jean-le-Vieux15 km in a straight line
- Ambronay16 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 2 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 19 | 14 | 8 | 3 |
| Night °C | -4 | -4 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 0 | -3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 103 | 79 | 96 | 84 | 110 | 95 | 87 | 94 | 80 | 108 | 112 | 116 |
| Wet days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 2.2 | 3.7 | 5.5 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 8.1 | 6.8 | 4.4 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 14 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (716 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 56% | 135% | 85% | 54% | 93% | 131% | 27% | 93% | 99% | 194% | 26% | 124% |
| 2021 | 133% | 72% | 59% | 63% | 159% | 114% | 196% | 62% | 111% | 92% | 65% | 167% |
| 2022 | 43% | 107% | 27% | 105% | 33% | 126% | 20% | 66% | 188% | 73% | 123% | 129% |
| 2023 | 78% | 9% | 139% | 110% | 59% | 82% | 63% | 77% | 92% | 177% | 208% | 155% |
| 2024 | 114% | 109% | 114% | 125% | 149% | 125% | 99% | 61% | 241% | 155% | 56% | 101% |
| 2025 | 157% | 58% | 56% | 107% | 85% | 103% | 118% | 92% | 194% | 173% | 150% | 36% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascade de la Charabotte
France
- 115 mHeight
- 3.5 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–May, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2940853) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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