Mountains guide · about two hours from Skopje
North Macedonia’s mountain playground: skiing at Zare Lazarevski, Lake Mavrovo and its submerged church, Bigorski Monastery, Galičnik and the Duf waterfall.
North Macedonia feature
Ski in winter, walk in summer, and find a church rising out of the lake.
Ski the slopes above Lake Mavrovo in winter, look for the drowned church, visit the carved iconostasis at Bigorski and drive up to Galičnik.
Read the full back story below, then plan your trip.
The back story
The country’s largest national park: high mountains, a lake with a drowned church, a ski resort, carved monasteries and stone villages, two hours from Skopje.
The church in the lake
The roofless church of a village flooded by the lake, half-submerged or on dry land depending on the water level.
The country’s top ski area
The ski centre above Lake Mavrovo, with runs from about 1,255 to 1,860 metres.
A masterpiece of carving
The monastery of St John the Baptist in the Radika valley, with a famous carved iconostasis.
The village wedding
A stone village high in the mountains, famous for its traditional wedding festival each July.
The highest peak
The highest mountain in North Macedonia, at 2,764 metres, on the border with Albania.
At the foot of Bistra
A mountain hotel in the national park, with an indoor pool and sauna, near the ski centre.
About two hours
About two hours by car from Skopje via Gostivar; buses to Mavrovo are infrequent.
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