Topography of Albania‎

The most significant feature of Albania is possibly its relief, with numerous successive mountain ranges and its average altitude, more than 700 metres above sea level. Much of the mountains lie to the north, east and south of the western lowlands in the northern, eastern and southern mountain ranges.

The Albanian Alps extend over 90 kilometres through the north of Albania, traversing an area of 2,000 square kilometres. These mountains represent an extension of the Dinaric Alps and no wider than 40 kilometres. They are deeply fragmented and often inaccessible. It holds the Maja Jezercë, which is the highest point of the Dinarides and simultaneously the second highest point of Albania.

Maja e Thatë within the Albanian Alps in the north.

The Korab Mountains dominate the east of the country and expand 40 kilometres along the eastern border of the country, where peaks can clearly reach 2,500 metres. The mountains offer the country's most prominent peak at Mount Korab, which is fragmented by many deep structural depressions. Another distinguishing feature remains the evidence of the last ice age in form of glacial lakes at relatively low altitudes.

One of the most remarkable features about the south of Albania is the presence of the Ceraunian Mountains that cut across the landscape for nearly 100 kilometres. Thousand meter high mountains fall vertically into the Mediterranean Sea constituting at least the first barrier to communication between the sea and the country's southern inland.