Messolonghi Lagoon

The Messolonghi-Aitoliko lagoon complex covers roughly 150 square kilometres of shallow brackish water, sandbars and salt marsh at the mouths of the Acheloos and Evinos rivers, protected as a Ramsar wetland. It is a working landscape as much as a wild one: traditional fish traps called divaria funnel migrating fish into enclosures, salt pans crystallise sea salt in summer, and hundreds of pelades, timber huts on stilts, stand out in the water, some still used by fishermen. Bird numbers are among the highest in Greece, with flamingos, pelicans, avocets and large winter flocks; the Dalmatian pelican is a regular. Causeways carry roads far out across the water, and the town of Aitoliko sits on an island in the northern lagoon, reached by two bridges.

What you actually see

• The stilt huts - timber pelades standing out in the shallow water.
• The fish weirs - traditional divaria traps still worked by families.
• The salt pans - evaporation basins turning pink in summer.
• Aitoliko - a town built on an island, joined by causeway bridges.

When to go

Spring and autumn for migration and comfortable temperatures; winter brings the largest flocks. Summer is hot, still and mosquito-ridden, though the salt pans are at their most colourful.

Honest expectations

The landscape is flat, industrial in places and requires patience to appreciate; there are few visitor facilities and no formal hides. Mosquitoes are severe from late spring. A car and binoculars are essential.

Nearby

Aitoliko lies in the northern lagoon; Nafpaktos and the bridge to the Peloponnese are east.