River
Vjosa
280 km from source to mouth · Albania and Greece.
Albania and GreeceFlows into Adriatic Sea2nd longest in Albania
In numbers
Length
280km
Average flow
150m³/s
Basin
6,600km²
Drop
1,116m
from 1,114 m to -2 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
280 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmPindusat 1,114 m
- 17 kmVovousa bridge
- 46 kmKonitsa Municipality10,514 people
- 59 kmKonitsa bridge
- 70 kmVoidomatistributary
- 83 kmSarantaporostributary
- 111 kmLengaricetributary
- 112 kmGjinkar3,243 people
- 112 kmPetran1,622 people
- 119 kmPërmet7,980 people
- 140 kmKëlcyrë4,900 people
- 154 kmDragoti Bridge
- 158 kmDrinotributary
- 160 kmRuins of the antique-Middle Ages bridge
- 160 kmTepelenë11,955 people
- 170 kmMemaliaj4,951 people
- 226 kmSelenicë6,912 people
- 236 kmShushicëtributary
- 256 kmNovoselë8,209 people
- 280 kmAdriatic Seaat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Albania and Greece
At the mouth it carries 150 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 17 seconds. It drops from 1,114 m to -2 m, 4.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 6,600 km², about the size of PS. 162,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to February; lowest: from June to September. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- TepelenëLargest city on its banks · 11,955 people
- Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport (CFU)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 78 km from the cityCar hire at CFU airport (Kerkyra)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Vjosa, 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 21 m³/s in the lowest month to 310 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
Vjosa: the basin in numbers
6,776 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 162,000people live in the basin
- 24/km²people per km²
- 837maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,115mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 11.1°Caverage air temperature
- 18%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 26% Forest
- 34% Cropland
- 13% Pasture
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
Vjosa: what you find on the way
- 6Weirs
- 3Waterfalls
- 1Canoe put-ins
- 1River beaches
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Vjosa 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.
5beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
24mountains at the sourcePeakyas
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Beaches (5)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Plazhi i Vjetër25 km away24.9°C
- Plazhi i Semanit13 km away25.1°C
- Gjiu i Japrakut19 km away · cove24.9°C
- Moli i Veriut25 km away · cove24.9°C
- Gryka e Djallit16 km away · cove24.9°C
Mountains at the source (24)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Lygkos8.3 km away2,177m
- Mauvrovouni, Grevena6.4 km away2,157m
- Pyrostia13 km away1,966m
- Dervo14 km away1,393m
- Grava8.7 km away1,349m
- Avgo11 km away
- Kakoplevri11 km away
- Koukouroutzos12 km away
16 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Sazan Island17 km away5.0km²
- Zvërnec Island16 km away0.1km²
Islandyas 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
Vjosa in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Drino, Shushicë, Voidomatis, Sarantaporos, Lengarice
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q81503) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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, 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.
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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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 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit