Azerbaijan 
In numbers.
Apr–Jun
Oct
Best months
1,640m
Elevation
The water at Ilisu Waterfall, month by month
It roars from April to May.
The fullest months: from April to May. The thinnest: August and from December to February. Below −4 °C on average (January): the falls can partly freeze.
- 17%Jan
- 24%Feb
- 53%Mar
- 80%Apr
- 100%May
- 70%Jun
- 39%Jul
- 23%Aug
- 33%Sep
- 42%Oct
- 26%Nov
- 13%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.
Ilisu Waterfall is a waterfall in Azerbaijan.
Getting there.
- Qaxbaşnearest town · 9.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,360 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Gabala International Airport (GBB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 90 km in a straight lineCar hire at GBB airport (Gabala)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 573 m in 2.0 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 1waymarked walking routesTranscaucasian Trail
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 10hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmSəngər Qala, Ulu Dağ Hotel, Yurd Hotel İlisu and 7 more
- 8restaurants 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
- Qaxbaş9.3 km in a straight line
- Qax İngiloy12 km in a straight line
- Çinarlı13 km in a straight line
- Qax13 km in a straight line
- Baş Göynük15 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 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 |
| Night °C | -10 | -9 | -5 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 3 | -4 | -8 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 24 | 26 | 42 | 60 | 73 | 51 | 40 | 35 | 50 | 52 | 31 | 19 |
| Wet days | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| Sun h/day | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 7.7 | 9.8 | 9.5 | 9.0 | 7.2 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 14 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,640 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 | 72% | 89% | 104% | 132% | 108% | 29% | 159% | 209% | 63% | 59% | 190% | 145% |
| 2021 | 79% | 133% | 143% | 38% | 138% | 118% | 287% | 149% | 243% | 163% | 55% | 68% |
| 2022 | 52% | 25% | 186% | 74% | 164% | 182% | 117% | 68% | 103% | 107% | 54% | 108% |
| 2023 | 40% | 132% | 69% | 95% | 109% | 356% | 158% | 216% | 302% | 53% | 82% | 232% |
| 2024 | 180% | 77% | 198% | 40% | 211% | 285% | 269% | 85% | 140% | 88% | 99% | 63% |
| 2025 | 25% | 124% | 155% | 136% | 101% | 208% | 38% | 229% | 216% | 75% | 2% | 102% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Ilisu Waterfall
Azerbaijan
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q12848944) · 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.
The family
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