Albania Canyon

Osum Canyon

930 m of rock, cut by the Osum River.

Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0

The cut

930 metres, to scale.

A slice through Osum Canyon where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.

Standing on the floor, to scale: Eiffel Tower · 330 m · Burj Khalifa · 828 m

Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.

930m

Depth

measured on the 30 m relief model

13.6km

Rim to rim

measured on the 30 m relief model

36°

Steepest wall

average over 300 m, from the relief

288m

Floor altitude

Rim to floor

7 °C warmer at the bottom.

In July the afternoon reaches 34 °C on the floor, against 27 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are from April to May and in October. The rim freezes at night from December to March. The wettest months are from November to January.

rim · 1,393 mfloor · 288 m

9°2°Jan
11°3°Feb
14°7°Mar
19°11°Apr
24°16°May
30°22°Jun
34°27°Jul
34°27°Aug
27°20°Sep
22°14°Oct
16°9°Nov
11°3°Dec

Hike: Apr–May, OctFrost on the rim: Dec–MarWettest: Nov–Jan

Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.

12 km long gorge at the Osum River

Osum Canyon is a canyon in Albania, cut by the Osum River. The relief model measures 930 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 1,105 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 14 km wide where the cut was taken.

Getting there.

Çorovodënearest town · 4.5 km in a straight line
Parking 1,990 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.1 km from the floor
Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport (OHD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 89 km in a straight lineCar hire at OHD airport (Ohrid)Discover Cars · sponsored link
From April to May and in Octoberbest months to hike (estimate)

Plan the visit

Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at OHD airport (Ohrid)Discover CarsSee prices

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 river

The Osum River runs highest from November to February.

The Osum River carries about 19 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to February. It is lowest from June to September.

31 m³/sJan
27 m³/sFeb
24 m³/sMar
18 m³/sApr
12 m³/sMay
7.3 m³/sJun
4.3 m³/sJul
3.5 m³/sAug
9.9 m³/sSep
18 m³/sOct
28 m³/sNov
34 m³/sDec

From about 3.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 34 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 947 km².

Follow the Osum from source to mouth on Riveryas

Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.

From the sky.

The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.

Osum Canyon seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 6 km

ViewpointsParkingCampsites

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 24 × 24 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the canyon.

11viewpoints within 5 kmCanyon view The Bride‘s Hole, Skywalk Osumi Canyon and 9 more
4car parks within 3 km
1campsites within 8 kmCamp Kanionet
7hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmBar Hotel Sokoli, Hotel Flora, Bracaj and 4 more
20restaurants and cafés within 4 km

marked hiking routes within 4 km
via ferrata routes within 4 km
climbing crags within 3 km
footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
swimming spots within 3 km
named waterfalls within 4 km
caves within 3 km
information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
bus stops within 2 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

Çorovodë4.5 km in a straight line
Qendër Skrapar4.6 km in a straight line
Çepan5.5 km in a straight line
Leshnjë8.9 km in a straight line
Potom10 km in a straight line
Topojan11 km in a straight line
Vendresha e Vogël11 km in a straight line
Bogovë14 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Osum Canyon.

The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.

Riveryas1 rivers in the canyon

Osum161 km

Peakyas21 mountains within 15 km

Nishice1,196 m · 6.1 kmVlushe1,125 m · 6.7 kmMali i Gostenckes1,209 m · 8.3 kmMaja e Ramies1,612 m · 8.9 kmMali i Kulmakut2,041 m · 10 kmMal Topojan1,151 m · 12 kmMali i Qarrishtes1,166 m · 12 kmMali i Cipes1,480 m · 14 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Month by month

The weather, at the floor and at the rim.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon · floor	9	11	14	19	24	30	34	34	27	22	16	11
Afternoon · rim	2	3	7	11	16	22	27	27	20	14	9	3
Night · rim	-6	-5	-2	1	6	10	13	13	8	4	0	-4
Rain (mm)	104	92	82	61	58	37	21	25	79	98	125	131
Rainy days	12	11	11	11	9	7	4	4	9	10	13	13
Sun hours/day	3.6	4.4	5.4	6.5	8.2	10.3	11.3	10.3	7.6	6.2	4.3	3.5
Snow on the ground (cm)	6	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4

	Afternoon · floor	Afternoon · rim	Night · rim	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	9	2	-6	104	3.6
Feb	11	3	-5	92	4.4
Mar	14	7	-2	82	5.4
Apr	19	11	1	61	6.5
May	24	16	6	58	8.2
Jun	30	22	10	37	10.3
Jul	34	27	13	21	11.3
Aug	34	27	13	25	10.3
Sep	27	20	8	79	7.6
Oct	22	14	4	98	6.2
Nov	16	9	0	125	4.3
Dec	11	3	-4	131	3.5

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (288 m) and the rim (1,393 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Seen from the trail.

Kanionet e Osumit 01 — Fatjonkaloci · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kanionet e Osumit 02 — Fatjonkaloci · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kanjoni i Osumit Arben Llapashtica — Arbenllapashtica · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	36%	54%	129%	92%	51%	94%	88%	127%	75%	144%	6%	144%
2021	288%	142%	150%	118%	29%	80%	35%	24%	33%	171%	123%	172%
2022	27%	102%	49%	68%	62%	135%	34%	81%	70%	52%	117%	95%
2023	165%	23%	111%	98%	168%	172%	44%	170%	40%	70%	188%	42%
2024	92%	48%	126%	162%	115%	19%	85%	77%	144%	87%	75%	118%
2025	162%	57%	99%	66%	108%	17%	16%	221%	51%	112%	309%	35%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Compare with the neighbours.

Osum Canyon

Albania

930 mDepth
14 kmRim to rim
—Length
36°Steepest wall

Këlcyrë Gorge

Albania · 23 km

1,440 mDepth
11 kmRim to rim
—Length
42°Steepest wall

See the guide

Lengarice

Albania · 33 km

1,260 mDepth
20 kmRim to rim
37 kmLength
28°Steepest wall

See the guide

Vikos Gorge

Greece · 74 km

1,047 mDepth
3.0 kmRim to rim
20 kmLength
53°Steepest wall

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length	Wikidata (Q7108014) · CC0
The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
River flow and basin	HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020
Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby	Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas