River Rhine

(Local Name: Rijn) The Rhine (Dutch Rijn; Celtic Renos, Latin Rhenus, German Rhein), 1,320km/820mi long from source to sea, is Europe's most important waterway and scenically its most attractive. It originates in the western Swiss canton of Grisons, where the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein unite to form the Alpine Rhine. It then flows through Lake Constance, goes over the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen and continues on its way to Basle as the High Rhine. At Basle it turns north and flows through the Upper Rhine plain. Between Mainz and Bingen it follows a westerly course and then bears northwest through the Rhenish Uplands. Within the territory of the Netherlands it divides into a number of separate arms, which finally flow into the North Sea.

The hydrographic pattern of the Rhine and the various arms which convey its water to the sea is highly complex, particularly since it is bound up with the course of the Maas and its various ramifications.