The trip in numbers
| Boat, landing below St Andrew to Vrelo | 3.1 km along the lake |
| Lakeside trail, St Andrew to the point across from Vrelo | 3.3 km on foot; closed since 26 February 2026 |
| Deepest dive in the flooded shaft | 338 m, October 2026 |
| Fares and hours | set on site; no public body publishes them |
The boat distance is measured along the middle of the lake between the two landings.
The boat
Boats leave from the landing at the downstream end of the lake, below the church of St Andrew and beside the hotel and restaurant at the dam. The crossing follows the lake upstream between the cliffs for 3.1 km to the landing at the cave. The people who run the boats set the times and the price, and no public body publishes either, so ask at the landing before you board. Agree whether the price includes the cave visit and the return.
The dry cave
The boats land at the entrance of Vrelo’s upper cave, a dry cave with two halls and two small lakes of very cold water. A short guided route of about 20 minutes leads through it. Wear shoes with grip and bring a layer: the air inside is cold even in summer.
The flooded shaft below
Under the lake, 5 to 7 m below the waterline, a second entrance leads into Vrelo’s flooded lower cave: a passage of about 427 m running gently down, then a shaft dropping vertically. The Vrelo cave diving club, founded in 2009, has explored it with foreign teams for years. The Italian diver Luigi Casati reached 212 m, and the Polish diver Krzysztof Starnawski 242 m in 2017. In 2025 a team led by the Polish diver Bartłomiej Pitala reached 287 m. In October 2026, on the Vrelo 2026 expedition, a team from North Macedonia, Poland and Italy reached 338 m, with Pitala making the deepest dive. The expedition reports it as the deepest point a diver has reached in any underwater cave, and the shaft continued below.
The City of Skopje funds research in the cave: in September 2026 it opened a public call to support the exploration of the underwater cave Vrelo.
Before you go
- Getting to the landing: bus 60 to its last stop, then 1.1 km on foot to St Andrew; see Skopje to Matka Canyon.
- Not on foot: the lakeside trail, which ends across the water from Vrelo, has been closed since 26 February 2026 for falling rock, until further notice.
- Kayaking: you can paddle the same water; see Lake Matka, boats and kayaks.