Main River
The Main is the longest tributary of the Rhine. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for 525 kilometers to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, Hesse. The cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden are close to the confluence.
The largest cities on the Main are Frankfurt am Main, Offenbach am Main and Würzburg. It is the longest river lying entirely in Germany.
Geography
The Main flows through the north and northwest of the state of Bavaria then across southern Hesse; against the latter it demarcates a third state, Baden-Württemberg, east and west of Wertheim am Main, the northernmost town of that state.
Weirs and locks
There are 34 weirs and locks along the 380 km navigable portion of the Main, from the confluence with the Regnitz near Bamberg, to the Rhine.
Open Water Swimming
- From 29 June to 8 August 2025, Avram Iancu completed the Triple Crown of River Stage Swims that included a 89-day 2,860 km stage swim in 2017 in the Danube River, a 48-day 1,032 km stage swim in 2023 in the Rhine River, and a 40-day 556 km stage swim in the Main River and Danube Canal where he covered 4,448 km in a total of 177 days from the North Sea to the Black Sea through continental Europe.
