Germany 
In numbers.
20m
Height
OpenStreetMap
Apr–May
Aug
Oct
Best months
568m
Elevation
The water at Plästerlegge, month by month
It roars from November to May.
The fullest months: from November to May.
- 100%Jan
- 90%Feb
- 96%Mar
- 80%Apr
- 78%May
- 66%Jun
- 68%Jul
- 66%Aug
- 63%Sep
- 67%Oct
- 81%Nov
- 85%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to May, August and October.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Bestwig, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Plästerlegge is a waterfall in Germany. The water falls 20 m. It lies within Plästerlegge–Auf'm Kipp.
Getting there.
- Siedlinghausennearest town · 6.1 km in a straight line
- Parking 320 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Paderborn Lippstadt Airport (PAD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 37 km in a straight lineCar hire at PAD airport (Büren)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.
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.
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 103 m in 1.1 km.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsStüppelturm, Birkegge and 4 more
- 18waymarked walking routesX10 Wilhelm-Münker-Weg, Bestwiger Panoramaweg, Valme Rundweg VA6 and 15 more
- 19car parks
- —swimming spots
- 21picnic sites
- 6toilets
- 11information boards and visitor centres
- 6bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 8campsitesTrekkingplatz Sauerland, Wohnmobil-Stellplatz Sauerländer Besucherbergwerk, Trekkingplatz and 5 more
- 34hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHotel,Restaurant-Cafe der Holländer, Hochsauerlandhaus, Gasthof Kettler and 31 more
- 8restaurants 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
- Siedlinghausen6.1 km in a straight line
- Bödefeld6.8 km in a straight line
- Olsberg7.0 km in a straight line
- Bestwig7.1 km in a straight line
- Altenbüren11 km in a straight line
- Willingen12 km in a straight line
- Meschede12 km in a straight line
- Winterberg14 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 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 2 |
| Night °C | -4 | -4 | -2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 0 | -3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 77 | 56 | 57 | 45 | 71 | 68 | 81 | 74 | 62 | 60 | 70 | 75 |
| Wet days | 15 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 16 |
| Sun h/day | 0.9 | 2.2 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 6.6 | 5.9 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 13 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (568 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 | 61% | 227% | 117% | 46% | 53% | 152% | 65% | 97% | 69% | 131% | 44% | 81% |
| 2021 | 115% | 105% | 92% | 122% | 135% | 108% | 141% | 144% | 47% | 64% | 67% | 87% |
| 2022 | 92% | 174% | 23% | 160% | 67% | 64% | 64% | 41% | 152% | 89% | 75% | 99% |
| 2023 | 120% | 118% | 191% | 130% | 87% | 85% | 120% | 189% | 72% | 178% | 197% | 215% |
| 2024 | 104% | 187% | 125% | 213% | 153% | 128% | 153% | 121% | 126% | 141% | 112% | 93% |
| 2025 | 125% | 47% | 32% | 96% | 82% | 99% | 117% | 49% | 88% | 169% | 64% | 44% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Plästerlegge
Germany
- 20 mHeight
- —Average flow
- Apr–May, Aug, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q1277362) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit