Germany 
In numbers.
470m
Height
0.45m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Sep
Best months
2.1MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Röthbach Waterfall, month by month
It roars from May to September.
The fullest months: from May to September.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.5 m³/sMar
- 0.5 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 0.8 m³/sJun
- 0.8 m³/sJul
- 0.8 m³/sAug
- 0.6 m³/sSep
- 0.4 m³/sOct
- 0.2 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.19 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.81 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
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.
Waterfall in Germany
Röthbach Waterfall is a waterfall in Germany. The water falls 470 m over a front 40 m wide. It lies within Berchtesgaden National Park.
Getting there.
- Schönau am Königsseenearest town · 11 km in a straight line
- Salzburg Airport (SZG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 32 km in a straight lineCar hire at SZG airport (Salzburg)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.
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.
2.1 MW
About 0.45 m³/s falling 470 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 514 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 694 m in 1.5 km. Here the river runs about 365 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 2viewpointsTeufelshörner, Aussichtspunkt Obersee
- 3waymarked walking routesAV Weg 416, AV Weg 424 (Röthsteig), AV Weg 491 (Landdtal - Röthsteig)
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmSchrainbachfall, Landtalbach Wasserfall
- —caves
- —campsites
- 3hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmKärlinger Haus, Wasseralm in der Röth, Gotzenalm
- 2restaurants 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
- Schönau am Königssee11 km in a straight line
- Dienten am Hochkönig13 km in a straight line
- Maria Alm am Steinernen Meer14 km in a straight line
- Werfen14 km in a straight line
- Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden14 km in a straight line
- Bischofswiesen14 km in a straight line
- Berchtesgaden14 km in a straight line
- Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer15 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 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 3 |
| Night °C | -6 | -6 | -2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | -4 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 90 | 72 | 89 | 85 | 151 | 176 | 184 | 184 | 135 | 102 | 76 | 82 |
| Wet days | 13 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 3.0 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 7.0 | 6.5 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 29 | 28 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 20 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (860 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 | 56% | 197% | 92% | 67% | 97% | 128% | 136% | 146% | 137% | 167% | 37% | 121% |
| 2021 | 102% | 57% | 94% | 74% | 124% | 64% | 131% | 135% | 61% | 48% | 146% | 125% |
| 2022 | 77% | 133% | 22% | 113% | 101% | 113% | 90% | 86% | 131% | 99% | 124% | 75% |
| 2023 | 76% | 104% | 126% | 182% | 108% | 55% | 116% | 150% | 36% | 94% | 282% | 207% |
| 2024 | 88% | 111% | 99% | 120% | 114% | 148% | 99% | 89% | 209% | 110% | 34% | 92% |
| 2025 | 51% | 36% | 126% | 58% | 102% | 81% | 154% | 76% | 92% | 87% | 115% | 25% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Röthbach Waterfall
Germany
- 470 mHeight
- 0.45 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q319104) · 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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