River
Drin
280 km from source to mouth · Albania.
AlbaniaFlows into Adriatic Sea1st longest in Albania
In numbers
Length
280km
Average flow
350m³/s
Basin
12,600km²
Drop
653m
from 651 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
280 km of river and 19 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 651 m
- 2 kmLake Globočica1.5 km²
- 21 kmCentar Župa45,412 people
- 25 kmDebar Lake10 km²
- 32 kmShupenzë5,503 people
- 66 kmArras3,055 people
- 113 kmKukës36,125 people
- 115 kmLumëtributary
- 116 kmBlack Drintributary
- 116 kmWhite Drintributary
- 157 kmFierza Reservoir39 km²
- 157 kmFierza Hydroelectric Power Station
- 160 kmValbonatributary
- 183 kmShalatributary
- 195 kmLake Koman7.2 km²
- 223 kmLake Vau i Dejës16 km²
- 226 kmSpathara Reservoir0.7 km²
- 238 kmShkodër95,553 people
- 238 kmKirtributary
- 238 kmLake Skadar381 km²
- 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, Kosovo, and North Macedonia
At the mouth it carries 352 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 7.1 seconds. It drops from 651 m to -2 m, 2.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 12,600 km², about the size of QA. 1.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to February; lowest: from July to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (32% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- ShkodërLargest city on its banks · 95,553 people
- Podgorica Airport / Podgorica Golubovci Airbase (TGD)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 39 km from the cityCar hire at TGD airport (Podgorica)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water23 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Drin, month by month
Highest water: from December to February
Lowest water: from July to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 210 m³/s in the lowest month to 950 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
Drin: the basin in numbers
17,226 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 93/km²people per km²
- 871maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,153mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.6°Caverage air temperature
- 10%protected areas
- 5.0%covered by lakes
- 4.7km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 27% Forest
- 28% Cropland
- 19% Pasture
- 4% 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
Drin: what you find on the way
- 1WeirsSpathar
- 2Waterfalls
- 19Ferry piersRaja, Alpin, Kodra e Markajve and 16 more
- 4MarinasFierza Lake Ferry, Ferry Terminal "Fierze - Koman", Komani Lake Terminal and 1 more
- 4River beachesRera per Plazh, Plazhi i Rragamit, Ada Bojana Plaža and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Drin 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.
7lakes on its wayLakeyas
7beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
30mountains at the sourcePeakyas
3islands off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (7)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Globočicakm 21.5km²
- Debar Lakekm 2510km²
- Fierza Reservoirkm 153 · 128 m deep39km²
- Lake Komankm 1897.2km²
- Lake Vau i Dejëskm 21716km²
- Spathara Reservoirkm 2200.7km²
- Lake Skadarkm 232 · 44 m deep381km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (7)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Plazhi i Shëngjinit19 km away25.1°C
- Plazhi i Velipojës4.2 km away25.1°C
- Luka Milena13 km away · cove25.2°C
- Uvala Velika19 km away · cove25.2°C
- Uvala Crnogorsko Gumno20 km away · cove25.2°C
- Uvala Udovica24 km away · cove25.2°C
- Uvala Vučja Jama22 km away · cove25.2°C
Mountains at the source (30)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Gjallica7.4 km away2,485m
- Koritnik12 km away2,393m
- Krue i Bardhe15 km away1,969m
- Buzmadhje14 km away1,957m
- Maja e Madhe14 km away1,776m
- Maja e Samarthit10 km away1,740m
- Mali i Kolesjanit14 km away1,662m
- Maja e Marjathit12 km away1,489m
22 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (3)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Kunë Island20 km away1.4km²
- Stari Ulcinj25 km away
- Shaqari Island24 km away
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
Drin in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (7)
Also: Valbona, Kir, Shala, Lumë, Gjadër River
KosovoNearby
Rivers nearby
Albania40 km680 m³/s0 km awayMatAlbania115 km100 m³/s28 km awayMorača
Montenegro99 km15 m³/s48 km awayShkumbinAlbania181 km620 m³/s92 km awayCem RiverMontenegro62 km260 m³/s58 km awayBlack DrinAlbania177 km50 m³/s89 km awayWhite DrinAlbania175 km56 m³/s89 km awayRibnicaMontenegro57 km67 m³/s66 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q213975) · 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.
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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