The river

The Vjosa, briefly and truthfully

The Vjosa rises in the Pindus mountains of Greece (as the Aoös) and runs about 270 kilometres to the Adriatic without a single dam on its main course — braided gravel beds, shifting islands, and a valley that still farms to the waterline. In March 2023 Albania declared it the Vjosa Wild River National Park, the first national park in Europe protecting a wild river along its whole length.

Our stretch

Between Përmet and Këlcyrë the river does its best work: wide braids under the Trebeshina and Dhëmbel ridges, the Lengarica canyon and its thermal springs, and the narrow limestone gate of the Këlcyra Gorge. This is where we live and where every trip begins.

Visiting it well

• Spring (April–June) is high, green, and the best water for rafting.
• Summer is for swimming holes, village evenings, and shade walks in the gorge.
• Autumn is harvest — gliko pots, raki stills, and empty trails.
• The thermal pools at Bënja are open-air and free; treat them gently.

The park exists because people fought dams for a decade. Travel here pays the valley to keep the river as it is — that is the entire business model.