159 waterfalls worldwide
Hiking at waterfalls
From ten-minute boardwalks to multi-day approaches through cloud forest.
Where it runs
Waterfalls with hiking
Every destination in our index where hiking genuinely operates at or immediately around the falls. If an operator has closed, we take the entry down rather than leave a dead booking link.
Angel Falls
Water leaves the flat top of Auyán-tepui and falls so far that much of it atomizes into mist before ever reaching the pool below, a…
Tugela Falls
Five free-leaping tiers drop off the Amphitheatre escarpment in the Drakensberg, and depending on measurement method it rivals Ange…
Yosemite Falls
North America's tallest waterfall drops in three stages — upper, middle cascades, and lower — off the granite wall of Yosemite Vall…
Sutherland Falls
New Zealand tallest waterfall drops in three stages from Lake Quill and can only be reached on foot, via a short side trail off the…
Takakkaw Falls
Its Cree-derived name simply means 'it is magnificent,' an apt description for one of Canada's tallest waterfalls, fed by meltwater…
Wallaman Falls
Australia's tallest permanent single-drop waterfall plunges off the edge of the Girringun rainforest into a deep gorge, reached by …
Seven Sisters Waterfall
Seven parallel streams cascade down the same cliff face directly into Geirangerfjord, facing a single opposing waterfall nicknamed …
Jim Jim Falls
A sheer sandstone escarpment towers over a plunge pool that, in the dry season when the falls themselves often stop flowing, become…
Bridalveil Fall
Often the first waterfall visitors see entering Yosemite Valley, its free-falling water is light enough that shifting winds sway it…
Wentworth Falls
A short train ride from Sydney, the falls drop in multiple stages down a sandstone escarpment into the Jamison Valley, with the pop…
Nevada Fall
The Merced River explodes off a granite step above Vernal Fall, reached via the strenuous Mist Trail that climbs alongside both fal…
Bowen Falls
Named for the wife of an early New Zealand governor, this permanent falls plunges directly into Milford Sound beside the small sett…
Twin Falls
Two streams split around a central sandstone pillar and fall together into a sandy-beached gorge, reached via a 4WD track, a creek …
Nachi Falls
Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall is itself worshipped as a Shinto deity, with a vermillion three-story pagoda framed directly …
Purling Brook Falls
A circuit trail through the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Area lets hikers walk down, behind, and back up past the full drop …
Victoria Falls
The Zambezi drops as a single curtain into a narrow slot chasm cut into basalt, throwing spray visible for 20 km that locals call '…
Rjukanfossen
The town of Rjukan grew up entirely around the hydroelectric potential of this falls in the early 1900s, and the surrounding valley…
Vernal Fall
A clean, wide sheet drops over a sheer granite lip into a broad pool, reached by granite steps carved directly into the cliff that …
Virginia Falls
Nearly twice the height of Niagara, a limestone spire called Mason's Rock splits the South Nahanni River in two as it plunges into …
Lower Falls of the Yellowstone
Twice the height of Niagara, the Yellowstone River drops into the yellow-walled Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the geological fea…
Iguazu Falls
Nearly 275 individual cascades stretch across almost three kilometres where the Iguazu River meets a basalt escarpment, with catwal…
Devil's Throat
A U-shaped chasm swallows roughly half of the entire river's flow at once, and a 1,100-metre catwalk on the Argentine side walks yo…
Plitvice Lakes Waterfalls
Sixteen terraced turquoise lakes cascade into one another over travertine barriers built continuously by mineral deposits and moss,…
Dettifoss
Grey glacial silt from the Vatnajökull ice cap churns through Europe's most powerful waterfall by volume, a reputation cemented for…
Johnston Canyon Falls
A catwalk trail bolted directly into the limestone canyon walls leads past a lower falls and on to a taller upper falls, one of the…
Nuorilang Falls
Mineral-rich water sheets across a broad, gently sloped travertine shelf inside Jiuzhaigou Valley, one of dozens of waterfalls link…
Josephine Falls
Smooth granite chutes at the base of Queensland's tallest mountain, Mount Bartle Frere, double as a natural waterslide, one of the …
Athabasca Falls
Though modest in height, the entire Athabasca River is forced through a narrow slot of hard quartzite sandstone, carving potholes a…
Svartifoss
Dark hexagonal basalt columns frame the falls like a natural pipe organ, a formation that directly inspired the design of Reykjavík…
Aira Force
A dramatic double bridge crossing frames this Lake District favorite, which William Wordsworth is said to have visited often, inspi…
Yumbilla Falls
Measured in 2007 and found to be taller than nearby Gocta, this four-tiered cascade near Cuispes ranks among the highest waterfalls…
Kjelfossen
One of Norway tallest waterfalls drops in multiple stages down the wall of the Flam valley and is best known as the dramatic backdr…
Gocta Falls
Hidden by cloud forest above the Utcubamba valley, this two-tiered giant remained unmapped by outsiders until a German-led survey i…
Langfoss
A series of steep cascades tumbles almost the full height of a mountainside directly into Akrafjorden, visible from a roadside pull…
La Chorrera
Colombia's tallest waterfall drops in multiple tiers down a cloud-forest escarpment near Choachí, reachable only with a certified l…
Seerenbach Falls
One of the highest waterfalls in Europe drops in seven stages down a cliff on the southern shore of Lake Walen, visible from the wa…
Kunchikal Falls
Often cited as India tallest waterfall by total drop, this multi-tiered cascade in the Western Ghats is hemmed in by a hydroelectri…
Della Falls
One of Canada's tallest waterfalls tumbles down a remote Vancouver Island valley reachable only by boating the length of Great Cent…
Krimml Waterfalls
The Alps tallest waterfall drops in three thunderous stages along a well-graded trail that climbs beside the full sequence, with a …
Gastein Waterfall
The Gasteiner Ache tumbles through the middle of the spa town of Bad Gastein in a series of drops, long believed locally to add hea…
Cachoeira da Fumaça
Water free-falls off a sandstone tableland in Chapada Diamantina and, in a strong breeze, never reaches the canyon floor at all, di…
Nohkalikai Falls
India's tallest plunge waterfall drops from the edge of Cherrapunji, among the wettest inhabited places on Earth, into a pool that …
Dudhsagar Falls
Named the 'sea of milk' for the white froth it churns up, this four-tiered giant straddles a working railway line, with trains cros…
Staubbach Falls
One of dozens of waterfalls lining the sheer walls of Lauterbrunnen valley, this one so thin and wind-blown that Goethe wrote a poe…
Mardalsfossen
Once considered among the tallest waterfalls in the world, its flow has been harnessed by a hydroelectric dam since the 1970s and n…
Vettisfossen
Norway's tallest unregulated waterfall — meaning no dam or hydro scheme has ever touched it — drops in a single free fall deep insi…
Baatara Gorge Waterfall
Water free-falls through three stacked natural limestone bridges into a sinkhole so deep and dark that the site has earned the nick…
Jog Falls
India's tallest plunge waterfall actually consists of four separate named streams — Raja, Roarer, Rocket and Rani — falling side by…
Basaseachic Falls
One of Mexico's tallest waterfalls drops in a single free fall into the rugged Sierra Tarahumara, part of the vast Copper Canyon re…
Kalambo Falls
Dropping in a single free fall into the Kalambo Gorge on the Zambia-Tanzania border, this is Africa's second-highest single-drop wa…
Kaieteur Falls
A single, uninterrupted drop nearly five times the height of Niagara pours off the Guiana Shield through untouched rainforest, with…
Amicalola Falls
The tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi tumbles down a series of rock staircases beside a 604-step metal stairway t…
Trümmelbach Falls
An entire glacier's meltwater — from the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau — is forced through a series of ten cataracts carved inside a ho…
Maletsunyane Falls
A single vertical drop off a basalt cliff near the mountain village of Semonkong holds the Guinness record for the world's longest …
Multnomah Falls
A two-tiered drop framed by a historic stone footbridge is Oregon's most-visited natural attraction, pulling in more than two milli…
Vøringsfossen
One of Norway most famous waterfalls drops off the edge of the Hardangervidda plateau into the Maabodalen valley, with a glass-floo…
Itiquira Falls
A wide sheet of water drops off the Cerrado plateau into a deep swimmable pool, one of the tallest waterfalls in Brazil's central s…
Cascata delle Marmore
Ancient Romans engineered this falls in 271 BC by diverting the Velino River off a cliff into the Nera valley below, making it the …
Latefossen
Twin parallel streams tumble down the same mountainside and briefly merge under an old stone road bridge before continuing separate…
Tequendama Falls
Just outside Bogotá, the Bogotá River drops off the savanna's edge into a deep canyon beside a haunting abandoned belle-époque hote…
Wairere Falls
The North Island's tallest waterfall drops off the Kaimai Range in a single dramatic plunge, reached by a forest track that climbs …
Helmcken Falls
The fourth-largest waterfall in Canada plunges over a volcanic rim into a horseshoe canyon so deep that a roadside viewpoint gives …
Akaka Falls
A single sheer drop through rainforest thick with wild orchids, bamboo, and banyan trees is reached via a short paved loop trail on…
Caracol Falls
A single unbroken plunge through the Serra Gaúcha's subtropical forest is viewed from a glass-floored observation tower and a funic…
Powerscourt Waterfall
Ireland tallest waterfall drops through a wooded deer park on the grounds of the Powerscourt Estate, framed by the Sugar Loaf mount…
Ruacana Falls
A hydroelectric scheme diverts nearly all of the Kunene River's flow underground, so the spectacular natural cataract only reappear…
Steall Falls
Scotland's second-tallest waterfall sits at the head of a dramatic gorge below Ben Nevis, reached by a scramble along an exposed pa…
Reichenbach Falls
Arthur Conan Doyle sent Sherlock Holmes to his apparent death over these falls in The Final Problem, and a funicular railway still …
Fukuroda Falls
Water descends in four broad stages down terraced rock, and a tunnel drilled straight through the mountainside leads to two enclose…
Tad Fane Falls
Two parallel streams plunge side by side off the edge of the Bolaven Plateau into a jungle-filled crater, viewed from a coffee-shop…
Tumpak Sewu
Dozens of separate streams fan out across a vast horseshoe amphitheatre at the base of Mount Semeru, an active volcano whose runoff…
Falls of Glomach
One of Britain tallest waterfalls sits deep in a remote Highland glen with no road access, requiring a demanding hike of several ho…
Ouzoud Falls
The El-Abid River tumbles over red ochre cliffs in a series of steps into the Atlas foothills, framed by hundreds of resident Barba…
Boka Waterfall
Slovenia tallest waterfall bursts from a narrow slot in the rock face of the Julian Alps, forming two separate jets in high water t…
Kalandula Falls
One of Africa's widest waterfalls, the Lucala River spreads across a broad rock face in a near-continuous curtain nearly as wide as…
Tamul Falls
Two rivers, one running clear turquoise and one silt-laden, merge just above the lip and plunge together over a broad limestone cli…
Sipi Falls
Three separate falls cascade down the foothills of Mount Elgon through terraced Arabica coffee farms, and a full-day walk links all…
Maria Cristina Falls
Once the primary power source for much of Mindanao, the falls sit beside a hydroelectric plant that now diverts most of the Agus Ri…
Kegon Falls
Draining Lake Chuzenji at the edge of Nikko National Park, the falls became infamous in early 20th-century Japan as the site of a w…
Howick Falls
A single sheer drop on the Mgeni River just outside Howick town, easily viewed from a roadside platform, holds deep Zulu spiritual …
Tinuy-an Falls
Nearly as wide as it is tall, this multi-tiered curtain in a remote corner of Surigao del Sur has earned comparisons to Niagara for…
Lisbon Falls
The tallest waterfall on Mpumalanga's Panorama Route drops in a narrow ribbon into a fern-lined gorge, viewable from a guardrail me…
Montmorency Falls
Standing 30 metres taller than Niagara, the falls mark the spot where British general James Wolfe landed troops before the decisive…
Snoqualmie Falls
A short drive from Seattle, the falls have generated hydroelectric power continuously since 1898 from a plant built directly into t…
Ekom-Nkam Falls
A wall of water falls through dense rainforest into a horseshoe amphitheatre, made internationally recognizable as a filming locati…
Berlin Falls
A slender jet of water threads through a notch in the sandstone before dropping into a still, tree-ringed pool, one of several fall…
Wli Falls
West Africa's tallest waterfall drops into a natural amphitheatre shared with thousands of straw-coloured fruit bats roosting on th…
Sekumpul Falls
Seven separate streams fall together into one lush green valley in northern Bali, often ranked among the most beautiful waterfalls …
Savica Waterfall
A short lakeside walk from Lake Bohinj leads to a steep staircase climbing to this two-part waterfall, considered the source of the…
Huangguoshu Falls
China largest waterfall drops into a limestone gorge riddled with caves, including one, the Water-Curtain Cave, that runs directly …
La Fortuna Waterfall
A single vertical drop off the flank of Arenal Volcano's foothills falls into a cold, boulder-strewn pool reached by a steep stairc…
Taughannock Falls
Free-falling from a rock amphitheatre higher than Niagara, this Finger Lakes drop sits within a gorge whose walls climb 120 metres …
Shoshone Falls
Taller than Niagara and once nicknamed the 'Niagara of the West,' this Snake River curtain is at its thunderous best only in spring…
Palouse Falls
Carved by catastrophic Ice Age floods that repeatedly scoured the Columbia Plateau, the falls drop into a stark basalt canyon that …
Skógafoss
A former sea cliff now stranded inland by shifting coastlines, the falls drop in a wide, almost perfectly rectangular curtain that …
Seljalandsfoss
The falls drop clear of an overhanging cliff face left by an ancient coastline, leaving enough space behind the curtain for a footp…
Grey Mare's Tail
Meltwater from a hanging glacial valley drops in a long silvery streak visible from the main road below, with resident wild goats o…
Tallulah Falls
A series of cascades drop nearly 150 metres in total through a 300-metre-deep gorge that was once a premier 19th-century tourist at…
Horseshoe Falls
The larger and more powerful of Niagara's two main falls curves in a broad crescent on the Canadian side, carrying nearly nine-tent…
Toccoa Falls
Taller than Niagara despite its modest width, this free-falling curtain sits on the grounds of a small Christian college and is rea…
Augrabies Falls
The Orange River funnels into a 240-metre granite gorge here, and the Khoi name meaning 'place of great noise' undersells how viole…
Bridal Veil Falls
The Pakoka River free-falls off a basalt lava shelf into a fern-lined gorge near the surf town of Raglan, with viewpoints both from…
Niagara Falls
Three falls in one — Horseshoe, American, and Bridal Veil — move more water per second than almost any other falls on Earth, funnel…
Kuang Si Falls
Turquoise, mineral-tinted water cascades down a tiered limestone staircase into a series of pools popular for swimming, with a resc…
Nungnung Falls
One of Bali tallest waterfalls drops into a deep ravine reached by a long, steep concrete staircase through rice terraces and jungl…
Skradinski Buk
Seventeen travertine steps drop the Krka River into a wide, warm pool that was, until recently, one of the few named waterfalls in …
Blue Nile Falls
Known locally as 'smoking water,' the Blue Nile plunges over a horseshoe of basalt cliffs a short walk from Lake Tana's outlet. A s…
Nauyaca Falls
A two-tiered cascade on the Barú River drops into one of the Costa Rican Pacific coast's most popular swimming holes, reached by a …
Russell Falls
A two-tiered curtain flanked by towering swamp gum trees and ancient tree ferns is reached by one of Tasmania's easiest, most famil…
Murchison Falls
The entire Victoria Nile is squeezed through a gap in the rock barely 7 metres wide before exploding into the pool below, generatin…
Pulhapanzak Falls
A broad curtain on the Río Lindo drops into a jungle canyon that guides lead visitors behind and even partway down via a canyoning …
Pongour Falls
The Da Nhim River drops down four broad, staggered rock steps in Vietnam Central Highlands, sometimes called the queen of Vietnam w…
Kawasan Falls
Bright turquoise, mineral-rich pools step down through limestone in southwest Cebu, the finishing point of one of the Philippines m…
Duden Waterfalls
Two separate waterfalls share the name — an Upper falls where the Duden River drops through a travertine cave inside a city park, a…
Epupa Falls
On the Namibia-Angola border the Kunene River splits into dozens of channels weaving among baobab-studded islets before dropping a …
Marokopa Falls
A wide, feathery curtain drops through native bush a short drive from the famous Waitomo Glowworm Caves, reached by an easy ten-min…
Salto del Laja
The Laja River fans out across a broad basalt shelf south of Concepción, splitting into multiple channels that reunite in a wide, l…
Gitgit Falls
A modest, easily reached curtain surrounded by clove trees and thick jungle a short walk off the main road between Bedugul and Lovi…
Gullfoss
The glacial Hvítá River drops in two stages into a jagged crevice 32 metres deep, seemingly vanishing into the earth from certain a…
Wangi Falls
Twin streams drop into one of the Northern Territory's largest and most popular natural swimming holes, ringed by monsoon rainfores…
Boti Falls
Two separate streams, said locally to represent a male and female spirit, fall side by side into one pool near the town of Boti in …
Havasu Falls
Mineral-rich travertine dissolved from the canyon walls tints the plunge pool a surreal turquoise-blue, a color that persists year-…
Agua Azul
A staircase of travertine terraces turns the river a milky turquoise-blue as calcium carbonate precipitates out of solution, formin…
Rio Celeste Falls
The startling sky-blue color comes not from dye or minerals dissolved in the water but from the physics of light scattering off sus…
Letchworth State Park Falls
Three separate falls step down the Genesee River as it carves through a 183-metre-deep gorge nicknamed the 'Grand Canyon of the Eas…
Gveleti Waterfall
A short hike from the Georgian Military Highway near Stepantsminda leads to this glacier-fed cascade in the shadow of Mount Kazbek,…
Ban Gioc-Detian Falls
The largest waterfall straddling an international border in Asia is known by two names on two sides of a single river, with bamboo …
Hukou Falls
The entire Yellow River funnels through a narrow rock spout barely 30 metres wide, turning the world second-longest river into a vi…
Elephant Falls
Three linked tiers step down a hillside just outside Shillong, named by British colonists for a large elephant-shaped boulder that …
MacKenzie Falls
Victoria's largest waterfall by volume drops into a deep sandstone gorge in the Grampians, reached by a steep staircase of more tha…
Chitrakoot Falls
Often nicknamed the Niagara of India, this broad horseshoe curtain on the Indravati River sits in one of the country remoter tribal…
Linville Falls
Two drops feed into Linville Gorge, the deepest canyon in the eastern United States, with several short trails leading to overlooks…
Henrhyd Falls
A wide ledge of rock behind the falling water lets visitors walk fully behind the curtain, a feature that made it a filming locatio…
Salto Ventana
A modest but scenic drop in the granite hills of Uruguay's Lavalleja department, reached via a rolling hike through one of the coun…
Kravica Falls
The Trebizat River fans out across a wide travertine amphitheatre in a horseshoe of small parallel cascades, ringed by a popular pe…
McWay Falls
One of very few waterfalls in the world that drops directly onto a beach, this year-round stream free-falls from a coastal bluff on…
Wailua Falls
Twin curtains drop side by side into a wide circular pool just off the highway on Kauai's east side, familiar to many from the open…
Athirappilly Falls
Kerala's largest waterfall spreads wide across a horseshoe of black rock at the edge of the Sholayar forest range, a frequent backd…
Tavoro Falls
Three separate waterfalls linked by a rainforest trail climb progressively higher into the hills of Taveuni, known as Fiji's Garden…
Rhine Falls
Europe's largest waterfall by volume formed roughly 15,000 years ago when the Rhine found a new course after the last ice age retre…
Krka Falls
A chain of travertine cascades along the Krka River culminates at Roški Slap's braided, fan-shaped drop, upstream from the park's m…
Cumberland Falls
One of the very few places in the Western Hemisphere where a consistent lunar rainbow, or 'moonbow,' forms in the spray on clear ni…
Jajce Waterfall
Unusually for a waterfall of this size, it drops directly in the center of a historic walled town, at the exact confluence where th…
High Force
England tallest single-drop waterfall pours over the edge of the Whin Sill, a slab of hard volcanic rock that also underlies Hadria…
Khone Phapheng Falls
Not tall but staggeringly wide, this braided cataract across nearly the entire breadth of the Mekong River is the largest waterfall…
Great Falls
Just upstream from Washington, D.C., the Potomac drops through a series of steep, closely spaced cascades into Mather Gorge, a whit…
Torc Waterfall
A short, easy path just off the Ring of Kerry road leads to this compact cascade tumbling through oak woodland, one of the most-vis…
Millaa Millaa Falls
A perfectly circular curtain drops into a fern-ringed pool that has appeared in numerous shampoo and skincare commercials for its p…
Salto Grande
The outflow between Lake Nordenskjöld and Lake Pehoé crashes through a narrow rock gap with the granite horns of Torres del Paine a…
Florence Falls
A steep staircase of more than 130 steps descends to a monsoon-forest plunge pool fed by twin parallel drops, one of Litchfield Nat…
Salto do Yucumã
Rather than falling across the river, the water here plunges lengthwise along a geological fault line running parallel to the Urugu…
Goðafoss
Known as the 'waterfall of the gods,' legend holds that Iceland's lawspeaker threw statues of Norse gods into the falls here in the…
Huka Falls
New Zealand's largest lake, Taupo, drains through a narrow rock channel here at a rate that can exceed 200,000 litres per second, t…
Kirkjufellsfoss
A small, unremarkable-by-Icelandic-standards cascade earns its fame entirely from what stands behind it — the distinctively pointed…
Petrohué Falls
Turquoise glacial meltwater from Lake Todos los Santos tears through channels carved into ancient lava flows, with the snow-capped …
Livingstone Falls
Not a single drop but a 350-kilometre chain of rapids and cataracts where the Congo River loses more elevation than almost any rive…
Hraunfossar
Rather than one main channel, dozens of narrow rivulets seep out from beneath a centuries-old lava field and trickle into the glaci…
Erawan Falls
Seven distinct tiers step down through the forest, each with its own emerald swimming pool, and small fish that nibble at bathers f…
Pha Charoen Falls
Multiple broad limestone shelves step the Mae Charoen stream down a forested hillside near the remote Thai-Myanmar border town of U…