Ecuador 
In numbers.
80m
Height
OpenStreetMap
202m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jul
Best months
158MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Cascada el Pailón del Diablo(dueño el walter), month by month
It roars from December to July.
The fullest months: from December to July.
- 229 m³/sJan
- 228 m³/sFeb
- 250 m³/sMar
- 292 m³/sApr
- 309 m³/sMay
- 309 m³/sJun
- 259 m³/sJul
- 206 m³/sAug
- 153 m³/sSep
- 176 m³/sOct
- 209 m³/sNov
- 238 m³/sDec
From about 153 m³/s in the lowest month to 309 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.
Waterfall in Ecuador
Cascada el Pailón del Diablo(dueño el walter) is a waterfall in Ecuador. The water falls 80 m.
Getting there.
- Bañosnearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Parking 200 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Cotopaxi International Airport (LTX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 66 km in a straight lineCar hire at UIO airport (Quito)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.
158 MW
About 202 m³/s falling 80 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 53 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 39,600 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 101 m in 2.0 km. Here the river runs about 123 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 2viewpointsPailon del Diablo Mirador
- —waymarked walking routes
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 4toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 11other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascada Encanto del Rocío de Machay, Cascada de San Pedro, Cascada Antombos and 8 more
- —caves
- 1campsitesHosteria Monte Selva
- 4hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmPequeño Paraiso, Athene Moon, Hotel Spa Miramelindo and 1 more
- 10restaurants 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
- Baños14 km in a straight line
- El Triunfo16 km in a straight line
- Mera21 km in a straight line
- Cotaló24 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 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 22 |
| Night °C | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 162 | 167 | 194 | 215 | 200 | 193 | 150 | 127 | 115 | 173 | 174 | 172 |
| Wet days | 25 | 23 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 3.4 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.5 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,469 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 | 96% | 79% | 41% | 140% | 179% | 132% | 101% | 30% | 82% | 39% | 33% | 122% |
| 2021 | 160% | 154% | 139% | 163% | 139% | 184% | 48% | 46% | 41% | 118% | 128% | 192% |
| 2022 | 88% | 109% | 177% | 123% | 141% | 166% | 201% | 126% | 154% | 196% | 133% | 112% |
| 2023 | 150% | 92% | 208% | 174% | 178% | 134% | 200% | 373% | 105% | 118% | 167% | 181% |
| 2024 | 76% | 156% | 118% | 150% | 152% | 106% | 92% | 129% | 64% | 237% | 98% | 132% |
| 2025 | 162% | 161% | 200% | 120% | 176% | 214% | 186% | 151% | 155% | 223% | 171% | 115% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascada el Pailón del Diablo(dueño el walter)
Ecuador
- 80 mHeight
- 202 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q5755929) · 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.
The family
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