Switzerland 
In numbers.
0.51m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Aug
Best months
1,645m
Elevation
The water at Engstligen falls, month by month
It roars from April to August.
The fullest months: from April to August, with the snowmelt. Below −4 °C on average (from December to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.3 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.6 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 0.9 m³/sMay
- 0.9 m³/sJun
- 0.7 m³/sJul
- 0.7 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.4 m³/sOct
- 0.3 m³/sNov
- 0.3 m³/sDec
From about 0.23 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.95 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.
- Adelbodennearest town · 4.7 km in a straight line
- Parking 820 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Bern Airport (BRN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 52 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRN airport (Bern)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 504 m in 1.1 km. Here the river runs about 184 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpoints
- 18waymarked walking routesEngstligenalp Rundwanderweg, Unter dem Birg - Engstligenalp, Unter dem Birg - Engstligenfall and 15 more
- 4car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 5toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmLohnerfälle, Engstligefall
- —caves
- 2campsitesBergblick
- 38hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHotel Hari, Parkhotel Bellevue, Hotel des Alpes and 35 more
- 6restaurants 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
- Adelboden4.7 km in a straight line
- Leukerbad9.2 km in a straight line
- Lenk9.2 km in a straight line
- Kandersteg9.9 km in a straight line
- Sankt Stephan14 km in a straight line
- Varen15 km in a straight line
- Leuk16 km in a straight line
- Montana16 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 | -2 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 3 | -1 |
| Night °C | -10 | -10 | -6 | -2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | -4 | -8 |
| 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 (1,645 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.
Engstligen falls
Switzerland
- —Height
- 0.51 m³/sAverage flow
- May–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q38498) · 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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