How to hike Matka Canyon and visit Vrelo Cave.
Matka Canyon is a beautiful wilderness outing about 15 kilometres from Skopje, and Vrelo Cave is accessible by boat. Busses leave the centre of town and go there. They are not too frequent and should take about one hour. My hotel host pretended to be unsure if the bus was running on Sunday, so he suggested booking a private driver for the day. Since this would be my last day in Macedonia, I did not risk losing the opportunity to experience this trip, so I booked with a private driver.
The Entrance
If you go by bus, the bus stops a bit far from the entrance, but walking the distance is no problem. If you go by car, you can drive much further, closer to the start of the hike. However, the street is narrow, and tourist buses and cars occupy much space, making driving tricky. Several restaurants and souvenir shops are situated in the last parking lot.
Easily accessible
After a few hundred meters, you see the large dam that makes up the lake in Matka Cannyon. The canyon is quite narrow, so the dam is relatively high to make the most of it. You take the walking path on one side, which is easily accessible, until you reach the area where you can rent canoes by the hour or join one of the boats that will take you all along the canyon lake to the other end and the Vrelo cave. Just around the corner from here, you will reach the last restaurant.
After the last restaurant, the actual hike starts. It is in much more varied terrain and goes up and down along the lake. It is perfectly safe but not convenient for children’s prawns or wheelchairs. In exposed places, there is a handrail. I did not walk the entire length of this trail, but I was told it is about three kilometres long, and you come to a dead end. So, after about two kilometres, I turned and walked back.
The boat trip
I wanted to see the cave and enjoy boats, so I had to take the boat journey. You can not reach this particular cave by foot. The whole trip, including the cave, took about one hour. It was a lovely ride on the lake; along the shore were some cosy cottages and some secluded places. But I should wish they had removed old boats that could not be used anymore. They were just left ashore to rot and rust.
The Vrelo Cave
When we reached the other end of the lake, there was a small pier, and we had to climb some steps to enter the cave. Then we had to walk down again into the cave. As is quite common in this kind of cave, it was theatrically lit by colourful lights. But it was very effective, and the formations were very spectacular. The cave is listed in the New7Wonders of Nature .
Conclusion
As a Norwegian, I have to say the hike was not so challenging, and it was a bit too lined up for the tourists for my taste. But nature was beautiful, and we definitely do not have this kind of cave in Norway, so after Tetovo, Ohrid and Bitola, this was a nice final day in Macedonia.
