River
Achelous River
217 km from source to mouth · Greece.
GreeceFlows into Ionian Sea5th longest in Greece
In numbers
Length
217km
Average flow
87m³/s
Basin
6,329km²
Drop
948m
from 946 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
217 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 946 m
- 59 kmKorakou bridge
- 88 kmTempla bridge
- 95 kmGranitsiotistributary
- 120 kmAgrafiotistributary
- 120 kmMegdovastributary
- 122 kmKremasta lake63 km²
- 150 kmKastraki lake20 km²
- 150 kmInachostributary
- 159 kmStratos lake7.1 km²
- 160 kmStrátos4,369 people
- 167 kmOzeros9.0 km²
- 217 kmIonian Seaat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in central Greece
At the mouth it carries 87 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 29 seconds. It drops from 946 m to -2 m, 4.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 6,329 km², about the size of PS. 153,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to February; lowest: from June to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 225% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- StrátosLargest city on its banks · 4,369 people
- Aktion National Airport (PVK)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 56 km from the cityCar hire at PVK airport (Preveza)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Achelous River, month by month
Highest water: from December to February
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 13 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Achelous River: the basin in numbers
5,652 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 153,000people live in the basin
- 28/km²people per km²
- 796maverage altitude of the basin
- 921mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 12.4°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 3.9%covered by lakes
- 6.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 48% Forest
- 21% Cropland
- 9% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Achelous River: what you find on the way
- 5Weirs
- 1WaterfallsThermal water 32°C
- 3River beaches
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Achelous River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
6beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
13mountains at the sourcePeakyas
19islands off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Kremasta lakekm 128 · 60 m deep63km²
- Kastraki lakekm 15720km²
- Stratos lakekm 1667.1km²
- Ozeroskm 1749.0km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (6)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Asprogiali22 km away25.8°C
- Mikri Kamplafka22 km away25.8°C
- Kamplafka23 km away25.8°C
- Karatzoyni23 km away25.8°C
- Steni Kablafka22 km away25.8°C
- Kablafka23 km away25.8°C
Mountains at the source (13)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Kedros11 km away1,796m
- Katarachias9.5 km away
- Variko14 km away
- Priza10 km away
- Politses13 km away
- Peristeri3.8 km away
- Mia6.1 km away
- Kitsonasou12 km away
5 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (19)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Kastos29 km away5.9km²
- Atokos29 km away4.5km²
- Oxeia6.0 km away4.2km²
- Vromonas9.8 km away1.0km²
- Petalas6.5 km away5.5km²
- Makri6.3 km away1.0km²
- Drakonera16 km away2.4km²
- Prováti13 km away1.2km²
11 more on IslandyasIslandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit


Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Achelous River in pictures




Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (4)
Also: Agrafiotis, Megdovas, Granitsiotis, Inachos
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q203923) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas, Islandyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.