Switzerland 
In numbers.
20m
Height
OpenStreetMap
1.2m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jul
Best months
232kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Simmenfälle, month by month
It roars from April to August.
The fullest months: from April to August, with the snowmelt.
- 0.7 m³/sJan
- 0.5 m³/sFeb
- 1.4 m³/sMar
- 1.9 m³/sApr
- 2.2 m³/sMay
- 1.9 m³/sJun
- 1.6 m³/sJul
- 1.6 m³/sAug
- 1.1 m³/sSep
- 0.8 m³/sOct
- 0.8 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.54 m³/s in the lowest month to 2.2 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to July.
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.
Simmenfälle is a waterfall in Switzerland. The water falls 20 m over a front 5 m wide.
Getting there.
- Lenknearest town · 4.5 km in a straight line
- Parking 720 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Bern Airport (BRN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 54 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRN airport (Bern)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to Julybest 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 as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
232 kW
About 1.2 m³/s falling 20 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 58 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 298 m in 2.6 km. Here the river runs about 152 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 27waymarked walking routesLenk (Ritzdole) - Lenk (Sibe Brünne - Rezlibergli), Metsch - Brandegg, Alpness trail and 24 more
- 5car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- 4toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- 4bus stops within 1 km
- 4other named waterfalls within 4 kmIffigfall, Trüebbachfall, Bummerebachfälle and 1 more
- —caves
- 2campsitesSeegarten, Hasenweide
- 36hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmChalet Wandelgrün, Wildstrubel, Hotel des Alpes and 33 more
- 14restaurants 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
- Lenk4.5 km in a straight line
- Adelboden9.5 km in a straight line
- Sankt Stephan11 km in a straight line
- Leukerbad12 km in a straight line
- Montana13 km in a straight line
- Crans-Montana13 km in a straight line
- Randogne13 km in a straight line
- Chermignon-d'en Haut15 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 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 2 |
| Night °C | -7 | -7 | -3 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 4 | -1 | -5 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 85 | 67 | 84 | 83 | 130 | 122 | 125 | 132 | 84 | 87 | 87 | 92 |
| Wet days | 12 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 3.3 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 35 | 40 | 29 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 24 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,145 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 | 49% | 168% | 91% | 64% | 79% | 146% | 62% | 131% | 103% | 183% | 23% | 82% |
| 2021 | 138% | 60% | 62% | 56% | 105% | 116% | 176% | 59% | 92% | 56% | 65% | 131% |
| 2022 | 47% | 125% | 22% | 99% | 69% | 89% | 57% | 58% | 172% | 96% | 92% | 105% |
| 2023 | 65% | 22% | 147% | 129% | 103% | 72% | 88% | 109% | 85% | 139% | 245% | 182% |
| 2024 | 108% | 94% | 158% | 108% | 153% | 142% | 92% | 89% | 220% | 142% | 77% | 111% |
| 2025 | 124% | 44% | 59% | 108% | 92% | 85% | 124% | 108% | 188% | 114% | 107% | 23% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Simmenfälle
Switzerland
- 20 mHeight
- 1.2 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q22627409) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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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