River
Shkumbin
181 km from source to mouth · Albania.
AlbaniaFlows into Adriatic Sea4th longest in Albania
In numbers
Length
181km
Average flow
620m³/s
Basin
2,444km²
Drop
584m
from 580 m to -4 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
181 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 580 m
- 46 kmHotolisht5,706 people
- 54 kmLibrazhd23,312 people
- 87 kmElbasan100,903 people
- 103 kmCërrik14,269 people
- 104 kmPapër6,348 people
- 132 kmPeqin16,580 people
- 144 kmRrogozhinë7,049 people
- 146 kmStreet and railroad bridge Rrogozhinë
- 181 kmAdriatic Seaat -4 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Albania
At the mouth it carries 615 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.1 seconds. It drops from 580 m to -4 m, 3.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,444 km², about the size of RE. 373,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to January; lowest: from June to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- ElbasanLargest city on its banks · 100,903 people
- Tirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 45 km from the cityCar hire at TIA airport (Rinas)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Shkumbin, month by month
Highest water: from November to January
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 9.6 m³/s in the lowest month to 94 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
Shkumbin: the basin in numbers
2,921 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 373,000people live in the basin
- 128/km²people per km²
- 630maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,042mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 12.0°Caverage air temperature
- 0.2%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 18% Forest
- 17% Cropland
- 15% Pasture
- 6% 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
Shkumbin: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1WaterfallsTemporary Waterfall
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Shkumbin 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.
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
27mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Plazhi i Divjakës6.4 km away25.1°C
Mountains at the source (27)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Valamara14 km away · prominence 1,526 m2,373m
- Guri i Topit12 km away2,125m
- Bregu i Kersakut14 km away1,540m
- Guri i Geges14 km away1,494m
- Maja e Brumbullit9.9 km away1,366m
- Maja e Shullerit5.1 km away1,333m
- Maja e Ahishtes11 km away1,333m
- Maja e Qershizes9.6 km away1,301m
19 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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
Shkumbin in pictures
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q736668) · 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 | Coastya, Peakyas — 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit