The river flows eastwards through East Tyrol and Carinthia in Austria into the Styria region of Slovenia.

[9] The Drava (along with one of its tributaries, the Slizza) and the Spöl are the only two rivers originating in Italy that belong to the Danube drainage basin.

Its main left tributaries (from the north) are the Isel (contributes 39 m3/s), the Möll (25 m3/s), the Lieser [de] (22 m3/s), the Gurk (30 m3/s) and the Lavant (12 m3/s) in Austria, and the Mur (166 m3/s) near Legrad at the Croatian–Hungarian border.

[1] The sources of the Drava are located at the drainage divide between the market town of Innichen/San Candido and neighbouring Toblach/Dobbiaco in the west, where the Rienz River rises, a tributary of the Adige/Etsch.

The river separates the Kreuzeck range of the High Tauern in the north and the Gailtal Alps in the south, passes the Sachsenburg narrows and the site of the ancient city of Teurnia, before it reaches the town of Spittal an der Drau.

The Drava passes into Slovenia at Gorče near Dravograd, from where it runs for 142 kilometres (88 mi)[12] via Vuzenica, Muta, Ruše, and Maribor to Ptuj and the border with Croatia at Ormož.

The hydrological parameters of Drava are regularly monitored in Croatia at Botovo, Terezino Polje, Donji Miholjac and Osijek.