The Hornád ( Slovak, ) or Hernád ( Hungarian, ) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and north-eastern

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It is a tributary to the river Slaná (Sajo). The source of the Hornád is the eastern slopes of

Kráľova hoľa Kráľova hoľa (; ; , literally "King's Mountain") is the highest mountain (1,946 m) of the eastern part of the Low Tatras in central Slovakia. Four rivers rise at its foot: Čierny Váh, Hnilec, Hornád, and Hron. The summit, easily accessib ...

hill, south of Šuňava. The river is 286 km long, with 178 km located in

, and the remaining 108 km in

. Cities along its course are

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; ; ) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the biggest town of the Spišská Nová Ves Distric ...

and

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

, both in Slovakia. It flows into the river Sajó ( Slovak Slaná) southeast of

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

. Along the river are a series of six separate

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

rocky cliffs and steep slopes, which collectively make up the Site of Community Importance 'Hornádske vápence'.

References

Rivers of Slovakia Rivers of Hungary Spiš International rivers of Europe {{Slovakia-river-stub