Latvia 
In numbers.
0.41m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–May
Aug
Oct
Best months
10m
Elevation
The water at Venta Rapid, month by month
It roars from October to April.
The fullest months: from October to April.
- 0.5 m³/sJan
- 0.4 m³/sFeb
- 0.4 m³/sMar
- 0.7 m³/sApr
- 0.4 m³/sMay
- 0.2 m³/sJun
- 0.3 m³/sJul
- 0.4 m³/sAug
- 0.3 m³/sSep
- 0.7 m³/sOct
- 0.8 m³/sNov
- 0.6 m³/sDec
From about 0.19 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.82 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to May, August and October.
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.
Widest waterfall in Europe at 249-270 metres (817ft-886ft). Height is 1.8-2.2 metres.
Venta Rapid is a waterfall in Latvia.
Getting there.
- Kuldīganearest town · 1.5 km in a straight line
- Parking 290 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Riga International Airport (RIX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 121 km in a straight lineCar hire at RIX airport (Riga)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May, August 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 6 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 20 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 8viewpointsVentas rumba and 7 more
- 5waymarked walking routesPārventas dabas taka, Ventas kreisā krasta dabas taka, Mārtiņsalas dabas taka and 2 more
- 227car parks
- 3swimming spots
- 18picnic sites
- 24toilets
- 38information boards and visitor centres
- 14bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmRiežupes ūdenskritums, Trejrumbiņa
- —caves
- 2campsites
- 14hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmMetropole, Sauleskalni, Virkas muiža and 11 more
- 28restaurants 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
- Kuldīga1.5 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 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 2 |
| Night °C | -5 | -5 | -3 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 2 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 53 | 40 | 39 | 35 | 42 | 58 | 73 | 72 | 55 | 69 | 66 | 59 |
| Wet days | 13 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 0.1 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 7.8 | 10.1 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 8.0 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 14 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (10 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 | 64% | 137% | 128% | 45% | 90% | 108% | 93% | 75% | 74% | 100% | 67% | 58% |
| 2021 | 122% | 30% | 107% | 105% | 135% | 44% | 80% | 179% | 60% | 80% | 97% | 102% |
| 2022 | 161% | 174% | 10% | 110% | 144% | 143% | 79% | 107% | 54% | 49% | 45% | 102% |
| 2023 | 153% | 104% | 137% | 59% | 45% | 137% | 89% | 223% | 88% | 191% | 101% | 127% |
| 2024 | 79% | 151% | 62% | 157% | 138% | 128% | 197% | 110% | 87% | 60% | 68% | 92% |
| 2025 | 166% | 56% | 74% | 64% | 130% | 123% | 144% | 85% | 84% | 105% | 59% | 74% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Venta Rapid
Latvia
- —Height
- 0.41 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–May, Aug, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q1939427) · 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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