Ilmenau is a river south of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Ilmenau originates in the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (, ) is a large area of heath (habitat), heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is ...

, south of

Uelzen Uelzen (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Uelzen (), is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the district of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality. Uelz ...

, at the confluence of the rivers

Gerdau Gerdau S.A. is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, and the 33rd largest steelmaker worldwide, with approximately 13 million tons of production in 2023. Gerdau uses mini mills, integrated mills, and direct reduced iron plants; 71 ...

and

Stederau Stederau is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Ilmenau south of Uelzen. See also *List of rivers of Lower Saxony All rivers in the German state of Lower Saxony flow directly or indirectly into the North Sea. A–Z A B D E ...

in , a district of Uelzen. It is a left tributary of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

near

Winsen (Luhe) Winsen (Luhe) () is the capital of the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the small river Luhe, near its confluence with the Elbe, approx. 25 km southeast of Hamburg, and 20 km northwest of Lüneburg. Hi ...

. The Ilmenau is long, including its source river Stederau. The largest towns along the Ilmenau are

and

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

. The city

Ilmenau Ilmenau () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany. It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of Erfurt and north of Nuremberg w ...

in Thuringia is not along the river Ilmenau but along the river

Ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion p ...

. The river is navigable from Lüneburg, but almost exclusively used by excursion ships. Above Lüneburg, the river is popular with canoeists.

References

Rivers of Lower Saxony Federal waterways in Germany Rivers of Germany {{LowerSaxony-river-stub