Course
The Rhone rises as an effluent of the Rhone Glacier in Valais, in the Swiss Alps, at an altitude of approximately 2,150 metres (7,050 ft).
Down as far as Brig, the Rhone is a torrent; it then becomes a great mountain river running southwest through a glacier valley. Between Brig and Martigny, it collects waters mostly from the valleys of the Pennine Alps to the south, whose rivers originate from the large glaciers of the massifs of Monte Rosa, Dom, and Grand Combin.
After Martigny, the river turns northwest towards Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) and separates the Chablais Alps from the Bernese Alps. With a mean discharge of 165 m³/s it enters Lake Geneva near the Swiss town of Bouveret and exits it at the city of Geneva before entering France. The average annual discharge from Lake Geneva is 251 m3/s (8,900 cu ft/s). After a course of 290 kilometers the Rhone leaves Switzerland.
At Lyon, which is the biggest city along its course, the Rhone meets its biggest tributary. The Saône carries 400 m³/s and the Rhone itself 600 m³/s. From here the Rhone follows the southbound direction of the Saône. Along the Rhone Valley, it is joined on the right (western) bank by the rivers Eyrieux, Ardèche, Cèze, and Gardon coming from the Cévennes mountains; and on the left bank by the rivers Isère (350 m³/s), Drôme, Ouvèze, and Durance (188 m³/s) from the Alps.
At Arles, the Rhone divides into two major arms forming the Camargue delta, both branches flowing into the Balearic Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea, the delta being termed the Rhone Fan. The larger arm is called the "Grand Rhône", the smaller the "Petit Rhône". The average annual discharge at Arles is 1,710 m3/s (60,000 cu ft/s).
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