France 
In numbers.
Apr–Jun
Oct
Best months
850m
Elevation
The water at Charlemagne waterfall, 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
- 66%Jul
- 66%Aug
- 63%Sep
- 81%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.
Waterfall in the Vosges Mountains of France
Charlemagne waterfall is a waterfall in France.
Getting there.
- Xonrupt-Longemernearest town · 5.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 140 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 64 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 352 m in 3.0 km. Here the river runs about 26 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 14viewpointsBelle Roche, La Roche du Diable, Rochers de la Martinswand and 11 more
- 27waymarked walking routesGR 5 Vosges, Le Donon - Ballon d'Alsace, GR 5 - Variante Kastelberg, Circuit du Hohneck and 24 more
- 41car parks
- —swimming spots
- 9picnic sites
- 5toilets
- 11information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 5other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascade de la Wormsa, Cascade de Retournemer, Cascade de Wasser Felsen and 2 more
- —caves
- 14campsitesLes Jonquilles, Chalets de la Wormsa, Camping Municipal Domaine de Longemer and 11 more
- 94hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmAux Deux Clefs, Ferme-Auberge Les Trois Fours, Le Schallern and 91 more
- 13restaurants 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
- Xonrupt-Longemer5.6 km in a straight line
- Metzeral7.5 km in a straight line
- Stosswihr8.1 km in a straight line
- Soultzeren8.4 km in a straight line
- Gérardmer8.7 km in a straight line
- La Bresse11 km in a straight line
- Munster11 km in a straight line
- Plainfaing14 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 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 1 |
| Night °C | -5 | -5 | -3 | 1 | 5 | 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 (850 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 | 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.
Charlemagne waterfall
France
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q20083915) · 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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