Germany 
In numbers.
1.1m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–May
Jul–Aug
Best months
202m
Elevation
The water at Lichtenhain Waterfall, month by month
It roars from January to August.
The fullest months: from January to August.
- 1.9 m³/sJan
- 1.8 m³/sFeb
- 2.4 m³/sMar
- 1.7 m³/sApr
- 1.5 m³/sMay
- 1.3 m³/sJun
- 1.6 m³/sJul
- 1.7 m³/sAug
- 1.2 m³/sSep
- 1.0 m³/sOct
- 0.9 m³/sNov
- 0.5 m³/sDec
From about 0.54 m³/s in the lowest month to 2.4 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to May and from July to August.
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.
Getting there.
- Sebnitznearest town · 5.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 100 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Dresden Airport (DRS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 40 km in a straight lineCar hire at DRS airport (Dresden)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May and from July to Augustbest 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 64 m in 0.8 km. Here the river runs about 78 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 31viewpointsAussicht Kuhstall, Talblick, Carolafelsen and 28 more
- 14waymarked walking routesRundweg Roter Punkt (Meißen - Schmilka), Gelber Punkt, Panoramaweg, Malerweg and 11 more
- 16car parks
- —swimming spots
- 10picnic sites
- 3toilets
- 40information boards and visitor centres
- 4bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmRichtergrotte, Beuthenfall
- 5caves
- 5campsitesCamping Endler, Ostrauer Mühle, Touristikzentrum Sebnitz (FIS) and 2 more
- 171hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmNeumannmühle Berghütte, Landgasthaus zum Schwarzbachtal, Pension Ostrauer Mühle and 168 more
- 9restaurants 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
- Sebnitz5.6 km in a straight line
- Bad Schandau6.3 km in a straight line
- Dolní Poustevna6.7 km in a straight line
- Rathmannsdorf7.0 km in a straight line
- Porschdorf8.2 km in a straight line
- Vilémov9.4 km in a straight line
- Mikulášovice9.4 km in a straight line
- Kurort Gohrisch9.7 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 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 3 |
| Night °C | -4 | -4 | -1 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 1 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 63 | 44 | 50 | 38 | 66 | 75 | 89 | 83 | 59 | 56 | 56 | 56 |
| Wet days | 14 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 13 |
| Sun h/day | 1.2 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 6.2 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 16 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (202 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 | 53% | 241% | 86% | 19% | 109% | 164% | 43% | 148% | 102% | 188% | 29% | 41% |
| 2021 | 122% | 107% | 85% | 119% | 162% | 124% | 126% | 135% | 46% | 43% | 101% | 101% |
| 2022 | 86% | 160% | 24% | 132% | 64% | 148% | 42% | 115% | 124% | 55% | 80% | 74% |
| 2023 | 86% | 138% | 156% | 171% | 37% | 90% | 60% | 162% | 46% | 157% | 187% | 183% |
| 2024 | 92% | 202% | 42% | 97% | 100% | 92% | 76% | 101% | 221% | 64% | 94% | 74% |
| 2025 | 91% | 38% | 60% | 73% | 95% | 73% | 120% | 58% | 129% | 118% | 76% | 47% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Lichtenhain Waterfall
Germany
- —Height
- 1.1 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–May, Jul–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q879159) · 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.
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