The Vils is a river, a left tributary of the Lech in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

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 Vils has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of approximately , with an average annual precipitation of nearly . It originates in the

Allgäu Alps The Allgäu Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the Germany, German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and the Austrian states of Tyrol (state), Tyrol an ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

from the supplies of the Vilsalpsee, and is its only discharge. Its water flows first in the northern and northwestern directions, in the

Reutte district The is an administrative district () in Tyrol, Austria. It borders Bavaria (Germany) in the north, the districts Imst and Landeck in the south, and Bregenz and Bludenz (both in Vorarlberg) in the west. The district is also referred to as . The ...

through the Vils Valley and the

Tannheim Valley The Tannheimer Tal ("Tannheim valley") is a high valley, at an elevation of about 1,100 metres, in the Tannheim Mountains, which are part of the Allgäu Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol (Bezirk Reutte, county of Reutte).It is ...

. In the latter valley it runs alongside the B 199 road through Tannheim, Zoeblen and Schattwald. From here the Vils descends down the waterfall , only slightly east/northeast of the Oberjoch Pass and only a few hundred metres east of the border to Germany. Then the river crosses the border into southern

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, turns northeast and reaches the municipality

Pfronten Pfronten ( Swabian: ''Pfronte'') is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Pfronten is one of a total of 45 towns, markets and municipalities in the district of Ostallgäu. Pfronten is located on the n ...

in the district

Ostallgäu Ostallgäu is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the ...

. Then it flows eastwards along the B 308, again crossing the border into Tyrol, flows below the Tannheim Mountains slightly south of the German border and parallel to this through the municipality Vils. After crossing the B 179 underneath it flows directly into the Lech. With an average discharge of , the Vils is among the largest rivers in Bavaria.

References

Rivers of Bavaria Rivers of Tyrol (federal state) International rivers of Europe Rivers of Austria Rivers of Germany {{Bavaria-river-stub

See also

References