The Danube

The Danube rises in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It flows through ten European countries and eventually empties into the Black Sea. It passes through vast landscapes and cuts through mountains in narrow valleys. For thousands of years, the river has shaped the lives of the people who live along its banks. It carries away precipitation, provides drinking water and food, and allows people to travel long distances. It carries away waste and wastewater, and its water is used to generate electricity.

However, devastating floods also occur again and again. Building and maintaining bridges over the river is difficult and expensive. Since ancient times, the Danube has played an important role in many stories and legends. People once even saw it as a deity, whom they called Danuvius; the river's modern name derives from this.

The Danube is 2,857 kilometers long, making it the second-longest river in Europe. Only the Volga, which flows through Russia and also empties into the Black Sea, is longer. The difference in elevation between the Danube's source and its mouth is 1,078 meters.

Near the town of Donaueschingen in Baden-Württemberg, the Breg and Brigach rivers meet. From there, the river is called the Danube.

The journey begins with several springs. The Donaubach rises in a castle garden in Donaueschingen. Between 15 and 70 litres of water bubble up from the ground in its artistically designed basin. From there, the water flows underground for about 100 metres into the Brigach, which joins the Breg 1.4 kilometres farther on to form the Danube. The Donaubach spring is one of 22 springs in the area around the confluence.

The Breg rises six kilometres northwest of Furtwangen. Its source near Martinskapelle is also called the source of the Danube. The main European watershed runs through this area. The water of the Breg flows into the Danube and on to the Black Sea. The Elz, which rises just 900 metres away, flows north, then into the Rhine and eventually into the North Sea.

The Danube is one of Europe’s oldest and most important trade routes. It connects Central and Western Europe with the countries around the Black Sea. It passes through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. It flows through these countries or forms the border between them.

Several large cities have grown up along the banks of the Danube. These include Ulm, Ingolstadt, Regensburg, and Passau in Germany; Linz and Vienna in Austria; Bratislava in Slovakia; Budapest in Hungary; and Belgrade in Serbia.

From Kelheim in Bavaria to its mouth at Sulina, the Danube is navigable by inland vessels. The Main-Danube Canal connects it to the Main and, further on, the Rhine. This creates a continuous waterway from the North Sea to the Black Sea.

The Danube is Austria's most important river. It flows for around 349 kilometers through the country. It passes through several narrow valleys, including the Upper Danube Valley, the Nibelungengau and the Wachau. It also flows through the broad Vienna Basin, where the capital, Vienna, is located. Around 1.9 million people live in Vienna, almost a quarter of Austria's population.

Some well-known pieces of music celebrating the river were also composed here, including the waltz "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss.

There are eleven hydroelectric power stations on the Austrian stretch of the Danube, generating a large share of the electricity consumed in Austria. A well-known cycle path follows the Danube from Passau to Vienna.

Important tributaries of the Danube in Austria are the Inn, which flows into it in Germany, the Aist, the Traun, the Enns and the Ybbs.

The Danube passes the Slovak capital, Bratislava, just under 45 kilometers from Vienna. In the Hungarian capital, Budapest, the river divides the city into Buda and Pest. About 1.7 million people live in Budapest, making it the second-largest city on the Danube. The third-largest city along the river is the Serbian capital, Belgrade, with a population of about 1.4 million.

The Danube forms the border between Croatia and Serbia, then between Romania and Serbia, and then between Romania and Bulgaria. The Danube flows through Romania for about 1,075 kilometers.

At 966 kilometres, the Tisza is the Danube’s longest tributary. It rises in Ukraine, flows through Hungary and joins the Danube at Novi Sad in Serbia. The Drava rises in South Tyrol, Italy, flows through Austria and Slovenia, and joins the Danube in Croatia. The Sava is the largest river in Slovenia and Croatia. It is 940 kilometres long and joins the Danube near Belgrade.

The Iron Gates is a narrow valley on the border between Serbia and Romania. It was once considered the most dangerous stretch of the Danube. Here, the river is only 200 metres wide, but 50 metres deep.

At its end at the Black Sea, the Danube has formed a large delta. This is where a river splits into several branches that carry water out to sea. The Danube’s mouth consists of three large branches, with numerous lakes and swamps between them. People have partly straightened the middle branch, called the Sulina branch, so ships can reach the Black Sea more quickly.