Italy 
In numbers.
0.67m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Aug
Best months
2,007m
Elevation
The water at Rutor Falls, month by month
It roars from April to June.
The fullest months: from April to June, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: February. Below −4 °C on average (from December to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.3 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.9 m³/sMar
- 1.5 m³/sApr
- 1.5 m³/sMay
- 1.2 m³/sJun
- 0.8 m³/sJul
- 0.6 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.5 m³/sOct
- 0.6 m³/sNov
- 0.5 m³/sDec
From about 0.26 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.5 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May 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.
- La Thuilenearest town · 4.4 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,590 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Annecy Meythet airport (NCY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 73 km in a straight lineCar hire at TRN airport (Caselle Torinese)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May 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 741 m in 3.5 km.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- 14waymarked walking routesAlta Via n. 2 della Valle d'Aosta - Tappa 3, Alta Via n. 2 della Valle d'Aosta - Tappa 4, Alta Via n. 2 della Valle d'Aosta and 11 more
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmSeconda Cascata del Rutor, Terza Cascata del Rutor
- —caves
- 2campsitesArea camper Grand Assaly, Camping Rutor
- 13hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmResidence Planibel, B&B Le Cloux, Hotel Chateau Blanc and 10 more
- 4restaurants 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
- La Thuile4.4 km in a straight line
- Valgrisenche9.2 km in a straight line
- Prè Saint Didier10 km in a straight line
- Morgex11 km in a straight line
- La Salle11 km in a straight line
- Courmayeur14 km in a straight line
- Séez14 km in a straight line
- Arvier16 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 | -4 | -3 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 2 | -3 |
| Night °C | -13 | -13 | -8 | -3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | -1 | -6 | -11 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 73 | 57 | 70 | 69 | 103 | 88 | 79 | 78 | 65 | 71 | 88 | 79 |
| Wet days | 12 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
| Sun h/day | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 8.7 | 9.6 | 8.5 | 7.1 | 5.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 44 | 53 | 41 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 29 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide. 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 | 50% | 164% | 105% | 85% | 113% | 159% | 56% | 124% | 104% | 179% | 19% | 76% |
| 2021 | 161% | 62% | 57% | 66% | 101% | 93% | 148% | 71% | 98% | 65% | 67% | 139% |
| 2022 | 27% | 80% | 19% | 92% | 72% | 60% | 38% | 83% | 127% | 87% | 73% | 102% |
| 2023 | 60% | 13% | 158% | 96% | 125% | 167% | 58% | 146% | 89% | 143% | 163% | 144% |
| 2024 | 96% | 127% | 198% | 100% | 188% | 148% | 95% | 56% | 251% | 214% | 45% | 76% |
| 2025 | 103% | 33% | 84% | 181% | 95% | 84% | 101% | 100% | 162% | 91% | 54% | 70% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Rutor Falls
Italy
- —Height
- 0.67 m³/sAverage flow
- May–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q140523147) · 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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