The Shkumbin river flows directly through Elbasan, and its valley is one of the few genuinely flat expanses in central Albania. The river bank south of the city centre offers a straightforward walk or cycle route, with views back toward the castle walls and the mountains behind.
Historically, the Shkumbin marked the dividing line between the Gheg dialect-speaking north and the Tosk-speaking south. This linguistic border runs straight through Elbasan, giving the city a slightly ambiguous cultural position within Albania. A walk along the river on a clear day, with the mountains of Macedonia visible in the distance, gives a good sense of the valley's scale and the geography that made Elbasan a strategic garrison town for every empire that passed through.