France 
In numbers.
20m
Height
0.15m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jul
Best months
29kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Cascade du Dard, month by month
It roars from April to May.
The fullest months: from April to May, with the snowmelt.
- 0.1 m³/sJan
- 0.1 m³/sFeb
- 0.2 m³/sMar
- 0.3 m³/sApr
- 0.3 m³/sMay
- 0.2 m³/sJun
- 0.2 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.1 m³/sOct
- 0.1 m³/sNov
- 0.1 m³/sDec
From about 0.07 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.31 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to July.
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 du Dard is a waterfall in France. The water falls 20 m.
Getting there.
- Chamonix-Mont-Blancnearest town · 2.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,080 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Annecy Meythet airport (NCY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 59 km in a straight lineCar hire at GVA airport (Geneva)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to Julybest 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.
29 kW
About 0.15 m³/s falling 20 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 7 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 573 m in 1.2 km. Here the river runs about 78 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 14viewpointsChalet des Pyramides, 1er panorama du Glacier des Bossons, 3ème Panoramique du Glacier des Bossons and 11 more
- 43waymarked walking routesSentier des Gardes, Plan de l'Aiguille - Montenvers, Petit Balcon Sud and 40 more
- 82car parks
- —swimming spots
- 13picnic sites
- 12toilets
- 4information boards and visitor centres
- 4bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascade de la Para, Cascade de Blaitière
- —caves
- 20campsitesCamping Les Arolles, Bivouac des chalets d'Arlevé, bivouac Brévent and 17 more
- 87hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHôtel Eden, Le Morgane, Le Refuge des Aiglons and 84 more
- 82restaurants 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
- Chamonix-Mont-Blanc2.3 km in a straight line
- Les Houches4.6 km in a straight line
- Saint-Gervais-les-Bains11 km in a straight line
- Passy13 km in a straight line
- Les Contamines-Montjoie14 km in a straight line
- Courmayeur14 km in a straight line
- Domancy16 km in a straight line
- Combloux17 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 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 2 |
| Night °C | -8 | -8 | -4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 3 | -1 | -6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 107 | 77 | 94 | 74 | 117 | 105 | 103 | 105 | 76 | 86 | 94 | 110 |
| Wet days | 12 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 3.3 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 49 | 62 | 46 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 29 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,233 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
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 | 54% | 206% | 105% | 67% | 97% | 145% | 50% | 116% | 136% | 209% | 24% | 70% |
| 2021 | 146% | 67% | 73% | 63% | 124% | 103% | 147% | 64% | 93% | 62% | 59% | 162% |
| 2022 | 39% | 119% | 19% | 126% | 57% | 75% | 33% | 55% | 179% | 107% | 104% | 113% |
| 2023 | 72% | 8% | 186% | 138% | 76% | 101% | 68% | 101% | 87% | 167% | 272% | 194% |
| 2024 | 101% | 88% | 142% | 128% | 156% | 161% | 102% | 78% | 280% | 175% | 79% | 110% |
| 2025 | 124% | 39% | 41% | 141% | 88% | 92% | 102% | 91% | 175% | 157% | 106% | 28% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascade du Dard
France
- 20 mHeight
- 0.15 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q88686796) · 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.
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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
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.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit