Things to see and do Mavrovi Anovi

This mountain range (Бистра Планина/Bistra Planina) covers 573 ^km2 in the southeastern half of Mavrovo National Park and part of Kičevo municipality. It includes fifteen peaks over 2,000 m above sea level, culminating in the Medecina/Меденица ("honeycomb") peak, at 2,163 m above sea level, near the village of Galičnik. Renowned for its forests, caves (undeveloped for tours), numerous rivers and small glacial lake Senečko (at 1,870 m a.s.l., 4.4 km west as the crow flies from the village of Mavrovo), it is also the setting for many sporting activities: skiing at the Zare-Lazarevski resort, off-piste skiing around Galičnik, paragliding, hiking, horseback riding or mountain biking. An 11 km trail links the Mavrovo National Park information center with the village of Vrben/Врбен (130 inhabitants, above Mavrovi Anovi) via the Koža peak, 1,740 m above sea level. Another, 14.3 km long and considerably more difficult, connects the Zare-Lazarevski resort with Galičnik via the Medecina peak. But one of the most frequently recommended routes is between the village of Nikiforovo/Никифорово (population 50, on the eastern shore of Lake Mavrovo) and Sandaktaš peak/Сандакташ, at 1,983 m above sea level. It requires an 8 km walk (approx. 2h30) with a 700 m ascent. It presents no particular difficulty and offers superb views of Mount Korab, Lake Mavrovo and, to the southeast, the Treska valley and the town of Kičevo.

The steep Dlaboka valley (Длабока Река/Dlaboka Reka, Përroi i Thellë), whose name means "deep", is home to primeval forest, in the Korab massif and within Mavrovo National Park. It ends grandly at the foot of the Korab waterfall (Корапски Водопад/Korabski Vodopad, Ujëvara e Korabit), one of the largest in the Balkans. Since 2021, part of the valley (2 ^km2) has been included on Unesco's World Heritage list of 94 "primary beech forests of the Carpathians and other parts of Europe". The Dlaboka River rises at Lake Mal Korab ("Little Korab"), at 2,310 m altitude. It is a tributary of the Ribnička, which flows into the Radika. The valley can be crossed from the abandoned hamlet of Ribnica (Рибница, Rimnica). This is at an altitude of 970 m, 16.5 km west of Mavrovi Anovi or 21.5 km north of Rostuša. From the hamlet of Volkovija (Волковија, Vallkavi), first follow a carriage road (by 4 x 4 or on foot) for 4.5 km to Ribnica. From here, a footpath leads to the waterfall where the Dlaboka falls from a height of more than 100 m between around 2,050 and 1,950 m above sea level. It's a 13 km walk to get there, with an ascent of 1,000 m. The return journey is by the same route (26 km in total). This challenging hike is not described on the national park website. However, guides are available to accompany you, and several routes are described on the wikiloc.com website.

This abandoned Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола Летен/Crkva Sveti Nikola Leten) is an Instagrammer's delight: it's partly submerged in Lake Mavrovo. Built in 1850, it's the only visible building of the former village of Mavrovo, buried between 1947 and 1956. However, depending on water levels, it is possible to visit the church, of which only the bell tower is still in good condition. The present-day village of Mavrovo has a new St. Nicholas church, built in 2006.

This artificial lake (Мавровско Езеро/Mavrovsko Ezero) covers 13.7 ^km2, 10 km in length from north to south and 3 km in maximum width. The main tourist attraction of the Mavrovo National Park, it is the country's second-largest man-made lake after Tikveš. It takes its name from the former village of Mavrovo, buried in the southern part of the lake, where the partly submerged Church of St. Nicholas remains. The lake is fed mainly by the Radika, a 70 km-long river that rises in Kosovo and joins the Black Drin south of Debar. It was created in several stages. An earth dam was first built in the ^19th century, to the south, near Mavrovo. The structure was enlarged in 1947, before another 54 m-high concrete dam was built in 1956-1957 to the east, on the Mavrovska River, a tributary of the Radika. It was during construction of this dam that 52 workers were killed by an avalanche in 1956. A beautiful monument pays tribute to them near the dam. The dam operates three hydroelectric power stations with a capacity of 390 million kilowatt-hours. The riverbanks are served by two roads and attract many tourists: swimmers, yachtsmen, fishermen and skiers. The Zare-Lazareski ski resort is located at the southern tip of the lake, near the rebuilt village of Mavrovo (population 200). Finally, on the eastern shore, near the hamlet of Leunovo (pop. 30), stands the large Hotel Radika with its own ski resort.