Пештера Врело

Peštera Vrelo - Matka Vrelo

Useful Information

Location:	Matka Lake, Matka. 20 km south of Skopje, in the Canyon of Matka, on the right bank of Treska River. (41.9301599, 21.2922688)
Open:	JAN to FEB Sat, Sun, Hol 11-15. MAR Fri 11-13, Sat, Sun Hol 11-16. APR Thu, Fri 10-14, Sat, Sun Hol 10-16. MAY Mon-Fri 10-15, Sat, Sun Hol 10-17. JUN Mon-Fri 10-15, Sat, Sun Hol 10-18. JUL to AUG Mon-Fri 10-16, Sat, Sun Hol 10-19. SEP Thu, Fri 10-14, Sat, Sun Hol 10-16. OCT Fri 10-14, Sat, Sun Hol 10-15. NOV to DEC Sat, Sun, Hol 11-15. During school holidays daily. Closed 01-NOV, 25-DEC, 01-JAN. [2022]
Fee:	Adults MKD 30, Children (4-17) MKD 25, Children (0-5) free, Family (2+3) MKD 80. Groups (15+): Adults MKD 25, Children (4-17) MKD 20. [2022]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=550 m, VR=330 m, T=8 °C, Twater=5 °C.
Guided tours:	L=180 m, D=20 min, Max=20. V=10,000 [2021]
Photography:
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Vrelo Cave, Matka Lake, Matka, Tel: +385-91-183-5000. E-mail: Vrelo Cave Boat Trips, Planinarski Dom, Matka 1060, Skopje, North Macedonia, Tel: +389-71-250-100. info@cavevrelo.com
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1998	cave developed as a show cave.
2000	opened as a show cave.
2009	deepest underwater cave of the world with -192 m.
2010	Italian diver Luigi Casatti descended to -212 m.
2016	Hranická propast deepest waterfilled cave with -404 m.
2017	Polish diver Krzysztof Starnawski reaches a depth of -240 m

Description

Пештера Врело (Peštera Vrelo, Vrelo Cave, Spring Cave) is located in the Canyon of Matka, next to the springs of Koritiste, on the right bank of the Treska River. The cave has two huge halls and two lakes. The small lake is 8 m long and 15 m deep, the large lake is 35 m long, 4 m wide, and 18 m deep. Highlight is a 3 m high stalagmite, which is called Pine Cone because of its characteristic shape. The cave was developed by the Peoni Speleological Society with financing from the Open Competition Fund of the EU Phare Cultural Development Program. The show cave was opened to the public in 2000, so it is rather young.

The lower level of the cave is waterfilled. It is a 425 m long almost horizontal passage which finally reaches a depth of 67 m below the water level. From here a deep shaft goes down at least 330 m below the highest surface of the river. This made this cave the deepest waterfilled cave in the world for several years, however, since 2016 the deepest is Hranická propast in Czechia with -404 m, and this is only second. It is still the deepest spring in the Balkans. However, such superlatives tend to change rather frequently.

The water cave was explored by the Italian cave diver Luigi Casati, who is part of an international team of explorers. Casati is using Aquatek Voyager rebreathers and a bail-out open circuit decompression line with different gas mixes. During the exploration, he set a new world record for cold water rebreather cave diving. The exploration is still ongoing.

Probably the most important fact for a cave visit, is that it is located in the Matka Gorge and is accessible only by boat. Boats depart from Хотел и ресторан „Кањон Матка“ (Canyon Matka Hotel & Restaurant), the trip takes about an hour. Many visitors are a little disappointed because the cave is quite small, and actually the locals are quite proud of their cave and tend to exaggerate. However, we guess the whole experience, including the gorge, the boat ride, the cave tour, the spring and other karst features, are well worth a visit. The only drawback in our opinion is the coloured light.

The Matka lake as well as the lake higher up the valley were dammed to produce hydroelectric power. Dams in karst areas do not work very well because the water might just vanish through a cave system. In this case, it actually worked, but the higher water level in the valley raised the whole karst water table in the mountain, and all lower parts of the caves were flooded. The lakes at the end of the Peštera Vrelo have underwater speleothems which formed before the dam was built and are now flooded.

And another word: the cave name Пештера Врело or Spring Cave is not very unique, actually there are millions of caves with springs on earth, and there is even another show cave with this name. This show cave is Vrelo Špilja in Croatia, and as it was opened to the public 50 years earlier, it actually has much older rights. It took a while until we realized the double name, and so we actually had a mix-up on this page adding data from the Croatian cave on this page. We have no idea why they chose this name, we guess they were aware of the other show cave of the same name. Of course, one can assume that they wanted to profit from the fame and good reputation of the other cave. On the one hand, this would be unworthy and on the other, it would lead to disappointment among visitors and ultimately to poor online ratings.