Switzerland 
In numbers.
Jun–Sep
Best months
2,507m
Elevation
The water at Giessbach, month by month
It roars from April to June.
The fullest months: from April to June, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from January to February. Below −4 °C on average (from November to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 16%Jan
- 15%Feb
- 43%Mar
- 82%Apr
- 100%May
- 89%Jun
- 74%Jul
- 72%Aug
- 55%Sep
- 46%Oct
- 44%Nov
- 29%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Mountain stream with waterfall in Brienz in the canton of Bern, Switzerland
Giessbach is a waterfall in Switzerland.
Getting there.
- Brienznearest town · 7.5 km in a straight line
- Bern Airport (BRN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 50 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRN airport (Bern)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Septemberbest 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 574 m in 1.8 km. Here the river runs about 159 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 13waymarked walking routesFirst - Grosse Scheidegg (Höhenweg 2400), Schwarzhorn – Klettersteig, Distelboden–Schwarzhorn and 10 more
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmBachlägerwasserfall
- —caves
- —campsites
- 15hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmRössli, Berggasthaus First, Schwarzwaldalp and 12 more
- —restaurants 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
- Brienz7.5 km in a straight line
- Grindelwald7.6 km in a straight line
- Meiringen10 km in a straight line
- Lungern13 km in a straight line
- Ringgenberg13 km in a straight line
- Bönigen13 km in a straight line
- Matten15 km in a straight line
- Interlaken15 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 | -8 | -8 | -4 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 4 | -3 | -7 |
| Night °C | -16 | -16 | -12 | -7 | -3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | -1 | -4 | -10 | -15 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 81 | 69 | 89 | 103 | 154 | 151 | 148 | 165 | 106 | 107 | 114 | 92 |
| Wet days | 14 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 4.1 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 7.4 | 7.9 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 4.7 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 57 | 68 | 58 | 27 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 37 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (2,507 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 | 45% | 136% | 85% | 60% | 80% | 138% | 61% | 150% | 91% | 197% | 17% | 122% |
| 2021 | 175% | 77% | 57% | 62% | 101% | 104% | 227% | 73% | 103% | 73% | 75% | 102% |
| 2022 | 45% | 115% | 19% | 81% | 77% | 94% | 73% | 66% | 149% | 103% | 65% | 97% |
| 2023 | 55% | 28% | 126% | 117% | 121% | 82% | 91% | 128% | 113% | 156% | 155% | 163% |
| 2024 | 100% | 138% | 217% | 106% | 164% | 145% | 108% | 68% | 194% | 153% | 51% | 92% |
| 2025 | 132% | 50% | 90% | 118% | 100% | 100% | 148% | 105% | 195% | 80% | 78% | 34% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Giessbach
Switzerland
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Jun–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q680772) · 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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