What is the longest river entirely within Europe?

The longest river entirely within Europe is the Volga. It runs for about 3,690 kilometres through western Russia, from the Valdai Hills north-west of Moscow to its delta on the Caspian Sea.

The Volga is not only Europe’s longest river; it also has the continent’s largest drainage basin and average discharge. Major cities along its route include Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov and Volgograd. The river has been central to Russian trade, settlement and culture for centuries and is often affectionately called “Mother Volga.”

A common mix-up is the Danube, which is Europe’s second-longest river and crosses or borders more countries than any other major European river. The Dnieper is also shorter, while the Rhine is much shorter still. The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea, an inland body of water with no natural connection to the world’s oceans, making its basin endorheic.