The Danube: Europe’s second-longest river

The Danube is Europe’s second-longest river after the Volga and is the only major river in the region to flow from west to east, emptying into the Black Sea. It has a distinctive character, passing through ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Its drainage basin includes territory not only in these ten countries but in another nine: Switzerland, Italy, Czechia, Poland, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo. The Danube is 2,852 kilometres long, with a drainage basin covering 817,000 km².