page_title: Geography of Germany
section_title: Rivers
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of Germany / Physical geography / Rivers
context_page_description: Germany is a country in west-central Europe, that stretches from the Alps, across the North European Plain to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Germany has the second largest population in Europe and is seventh largest in area. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 km², consisting of 349,223 km² of land and 7,798 km² of waters.
  Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps in the south to the shores of the North Sea in the northwest and the Baltic Sea in the northeast. Between lie the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany, traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.
  Germany shares borders with nine European countries, second only to Russia: Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Switzerland and Austria in the south, France in the southwest and Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in the west. Germany also shares a maritime border with Sweden in the north and the United Kingdom in the northwest.
context_section_description: The main rivers in Germany are:
  The Rhine (Rhein in German) with a German section extending 865 km (537 mi) (main tributaries including the Neckar, the Main and the Moselle (Mosel));
  The Elbe with a German section of 727 km (452 mi) (also drains into the North Sea); and
  The Danube (Donau) with a German length of 687 km (427 mi).
  Further important rivers include the Saale and the Main in central Germany, the Neckar in the southwest, the Weser in the North and the Oder at the eastern border.
caption: The major German rivers
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