"Matka" Top 5 Page for this destination Matka by Pijlmans

Matka Travel Guide: 32 reviews and 147 photos

Lake Matka is an artificial lake close to Skopje. The lake was created by building a dam in the river Treska.

You can reach Lake Matka with bus 60 or bus 2 from Skopje, follow the link for more information. In my Traveloques you can also read how to reach Lake Matka from the last stop of bus 12.

Church of St Nikola Shishevski

There are several churches and monasteries around the lake:

Monastery of St Nikola Shishevski
Monastery of St Bogorodica
Church of St Spas
Ruins of St Nedela
Monastery of St Andrea

See the map of Lake Matka for their locations.

Goats at the ruins of St Nedela

The churches of St Nikola, St Spas and St Nedela can only be reached by short (1-3 hours) but steep hikes. In my Travelogues you find descriptions of the hike to the Monastery of St Nikola on one site of the lake, and a hike to the other churches on the other side of Lake Matka.

In addition, there are several more hiking trails around the lake, as well as a course for kayaking.

Other artificial lakes in Macedonia can be found in Mavrovo National Park and near Debar.

Last visit to Matka: Aug 2011
Intro Updated Oct 3, 2012
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Reviews (16)

Hike from Mount Vodno (Skopje) to Lake... Things to Do (13)

The reason that we did not do this hike before is that we were told that especially the end of the hike, when you reach... more travel advice

Vrelo Cave at Lake Matka Things to Do (13)

You can visit a cave at Lake Matka. To get to the cave, you have to take a boat for about 4 km upstream from the dam. It... more travel advice

Trail in the cliffs seen from the boat - Matka

Hike along Lake Matka Things to Do (13)

You can walk along Lake Matka. At some places, you will be walking high on the cliffs on a very small trail, so this... more travel advice

Kayaking at Lake Matka Sports & Outdoors (1)

Just after the dam of Lake Matka, there is a course for kayaking. The water gets pretty wild! more travel advice

Transportation (1)
How to get to Matka

Favorites (1)
Map of Matka

Travelogues (6)

1 - 4 of 6

Comments (4)

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BruceDunning Oct 27, 2010 at 11:20 AM

The monasteries and church ruins around the hill areas look so wonderful, and hiking up there must be a real great experience. You have done an excellent job of telling the story of this area.
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SLLiew Apr 4, 2009 at 4:39 PM

Rugged landscape and picturesque views of Matka. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, SL :)
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ardnas67 Jul 17, 2008 at 1:31 PM

I like your page very much and soon will read the rest again. Beautiful photo's.
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ATLC Jun 9, 2008 at 3:02 PM

A stunning opening photo indeed!