Evros River - Greece Index

Evros river is the largest river in the Balkan Peninsula after the Danube, it is named after Hebrus, the son of King Cassander of Thrace.

Evros river rises on the slopes of Mount Rila in Bulgaria, the highest mountain in the Balkans, but also receives water from Mount Rodopi and the Antiaimos range via its tributaries Arda and Tundzha.

The first section of the course of the Evros river is a fertile plain 200 kilometres long and about 100 m. in altitude, in the centre of which stands Philippopolis (Plovdiv), the city founded by Alexander the Great’s father.

The Evros river meets its two tributaries at Adrianople and turns south before receiving the waters of the great Erginis River (which drains eastern Thrace).

Evros river flows into the Aegean Sea after a total course of 539 kilometres, the last 204 kilometres of which form the Greek-Turkish frontier. At its mouth the river forms a sizeable delta, 12 kilometres at its widest point.

The Evros river has a large volume of water and is calm (as there are no major differences in altitude along its course), but not navigable because it has a shallow bed due to the silt it contains.