River · Italy, Austria, Slovenia
Drava
The Drava is a large Alpine river and an important tributary of the Danube. It begins in South Tyrol in Italy, flows through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and along Hungary, and joins the Danube near Osijek.
Picture credit: focusonmore.com (CC BY 2.0) · Ruzica Radelić (CC BY 4.0) · Ruzica Radelić (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Drava?
The river starts here: Toblacher Feld near Toblach/Innichen, South Tyrol, Italy.
It ends in the Danube near Osijek, Croatia.
Countries on the river: Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary.
The story behind it
The Drava starts as a mountain stream near Toblach in the Puster Valley. It rushes past Lienz and Villach and then through Slovenia, where it flows through Maribor and Ptuj. Its fast water is used to make electricity: there are 22 hydropower plants along the river. A cycle path of 510 km follows the Drava from Toblach to Varaždin in Croatia. After the Mura joins it, the Drava forms the border between Croatia and Hungary. Here it becomes wilder, with sandbanks, side arms and floodplain forests. In 2021 UNESCO made this landscape, together with the Mura and the Danube, the world's first biosphere reserve shared by five countries. People call it the ‘Amazon of Europe’. More than 150 pairs of white-tailed eagles breed there, and beavers, otters and little terns live along the water. Where it meets the Danube, the Drava is 320 metres wide.
Questions children ask
How long is the Drava?
The Drava is about 710 km long. Depending on how it is measured, sources give between about 710 and 749 km.
Which countries does the Drava flow through?
What is the ‘Amazon of Europe’?
It is a nickname for the wild river landscape along the Mura, Drava and Danube. In 2021 UNESCO made it the world's first biosphere reserve shared by five countries: Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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