River · Estonia
Võhandu
Võhandu is the longest river in Estonia. It rises in the wooded hills of the south, links several small lakes on its way and finally reaches Lämmijärv, the middle part of Lake Peipus.
Picture credit: Ivar Leidus (Iifar) (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Vaido Otsar (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Ivo Kruusamägi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Võhandu?
The river starts here: Otepää Upland in southern Estonia.
It ends in the Lämmijärv, the middle part of Lake Peipus.
Countries on the river: Estonia.
The story behind it
Next to the great rivers of the world the Võhandu is small, yet for Estonia it is the longest of them all. It slips through forests, meadows and quiet villages, and here and there it drops over little rapids that once turned watermills. People long believed the water was holy: old stories say that anyone who disturbed it would be punished with storms and poor harvests, so millers built their dams very carefully. Beavers fell willows on the banks, otters hunt in the shallows and kingfishers shoot past like blue sparks. In summer families paddle canoes down the calm stretches; in winter parts of the river freeze into a silent white road. At the end the water spreads into Lämmijärv, the narrow middle section of Lake Peipus, one of the largest lakes in Europe.
Questions children ask
How long is the Võhandu?
The Võhandu measures about 166 km. That makes it the longest river in Estonia, even though many rivers elsewhere in Europe are far longer.
Which country does the Võhandu flow through?
The river runs entirely through Estonia, mainly across the southern region of Võrumaa. It never crosses a border on its way to Lake Peipus.
Where does the Võhandu flow into?
It flows into Lämmijärv, the narrow middle section of Lake Peipus. That huge lake forms part of the border between Estonia and Russia.
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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