The Žeimena River is a river in

Aukštaitija Aukštaitija (; literally in Lithuanian: ''Upper lands'') is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from lands being in upper basin of Nemunas River or being relative to Lowlands up to Šiauliai. Geography Auk� ...

, eastern Lithuania, and right tributary of

Neris River The river Neris () or Viliya ( be, Ві́лія, pl, Wilia ) rises in northern Belarus. It flows westward, passing through Vilnius (Lithuania's capital) and in the south-centre of that country it flows into the Nemunas (Neman), at Kaunas, as ...

. Žeimena begins in Labanoras Forest and at

Lake Žeimenys A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

. Žeimena flows to the south passing

Kaltanėnai Kaltanėnai ( pl, Kołtyniany) is a town in Švenčionys district municipality, Vilnius County, east Lithuania. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, the town has a population of 204 people. The town has a Catholic church. History In July 1 ...

town,

Švenčionėliai Švenčionėliai () is a city in Švenčionys district municipality, Lithuania. It is 10 km west of Švenčionys Švenčionys (, known also by several alternative names) is a town located north of Vilnius in Lithuania. It is the capit ...

city, and

Pabradė Pabradė (; pl, Podbrodzie; yi, פּאָדבראָדז ''Podbrodz'') is a town in Lithuania, in Švenčionys district municipality, on Žeimena river, 38 km south-west of Švenčionys. Pabradė is a busy place as the Vilnius–Daugavp ...

city. Its confluence with Neris is located near the border of

Švenčionys Švenčionys (, known also by several alternative names) is a town located north of Vilnius in Lithuania. It is the capital of the Švenčionys district municipality. , it had population of 4,065 of which about 17% is part of the Polish minorit ...

and

Vilnius district Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

s. The main tributaries of Žeimena are Lakaja, Saria, , Kiauna, Luknelė and Jusinė. Žeimena is one of the cleanest rivers in Lithuania. Also, it is one of the main places of

salmon Salmon () is the common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...

's spawning. The length of Žeimena is an object of discussion because it originates in a large lakeland of

Aukštaitija National Park __NOTOC__ Aukštaitija National Park is a national park in north-eastern Lithuania, about 100 km north of Vilnius. Established in 1974, it is the oldest of the five national parks in Lithuania. At first it was named Lithuanian SSR National P ...

. The lakeland has many lakes that are interconnected by various rivers and streams, so it is difficult to say which lake is the source of which river. Traditionally, Lake Žeimenys is considered to be the source of Žeimena.

Notes

Rivers of Lithuania {{Lithuania-river-stub