France 
In numbers.
Apr–Jun
Oct
Best months
800m
Elevation
The water at Cascade de Mérelle, month by month
It roars from October to June.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 96%Jan
- 89%Feb
- 100%Mar
- 87%Apr
- 93%May
- 78%Jun
- 65%Jul
- 66%Aug
- 63%Sep
- 80%Oct
- 86%Nov
- 94%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to June and October.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cascade de Mérelle is a waterfall in France.
Getting there.
- Gérardmernearest town · 3.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 320 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 72 km in a straight lineCar hire at BSL airport (Bâle / Mulhouse)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to June 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.
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 216 m in 1.5 km. Here the river runs about 76 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 7viewpointsLa Roche du Renard, Roche Morand, Point de Vue - Launard and 4 more
- 28waymarked walking routesSentier Botanique de Ramberchamp, Sentier du Tour du Lac, Sentier pour Tous and 25 more
- 21car parks
- 3swimming spots
- 42picnic sites
- 4toilets
- 8information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmSaut de la Bourrique, Cascade Chanony
- —caves
- 5campsitesCamping de Ramberchamp, Camping Les Myrtilles, Aire camping-car Gérardmer and 2 more
- 80hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHôtel Restaurant Beau-rivage, Hôtel de la Paix, Hôtel les Loges du Parc and 77 more
- 49restaurants 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
- Gérardmer3.3 km in a straight line
- Xonrupt-Longemer7.2 km in a straight line
- La Bresse7.2 km in a straight line
- Le Tholy7.4 km in a straight line
- Granges-sur-Vologne9.9 km in a straight line
- Vagney11 km in a straight line
- Cornimont11 km in a straight line
- Le Syndicat12 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 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 6 | 1 |
| Night °C | -5 | -5 | -2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 3 | -1 | -4 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 78 | 63 | 69 | 60 | 94 | 83 | 78 | 85 | 67 | 84 | 78 | 90 |
| Wet days | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 6.9 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 13 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 12 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (800 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 | 52% | 201% | 100% | 32% | 80% | 144% | 32% | 83% | 80% | 143% | 35% | 121% |
| 2021 | 146% | 84% | 80% | 57% | 135% | 167% | 187% | 77% | 63% | 80% | 63% | 102% |
| 2022 | 63% | 96% | 29% | 141% | 36% | 109% | 23% | 65% | 132% | 102% | 119% | 75% |
| 2023 | 94% | 27% | 144% | 120% | 44% | 35% | 90% | 111% | 50% | 151% | 213% | 105% |
| 2024 | 98% | 115% | 121% | 122% | 166% | 155% | 100% | 69% | 189% | 118% | 67% | 83% |
| 2025 | 125% | 59% | 41% | 88% | 43% | 108% | 101% | 99% | 175% | 105% | 99% | 29% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascade de Mérelle
France
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q18005355) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| 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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