Mavrovo National Park

Mavrovo covers a large stretch of the west, running up to Golem Korab on the Albanian border, the highest point in the country at 2,764 metres, and its slopes carry beech and pine forest, high summer pasture and the country's main ski area. Its most photographed feature is accidental: when the Mavrovo reservoir was created in the 1950s, the village church of St Nicholas at Mavrovi Anovi was left standing in the water, and depending on the level it appears half-drowned, fully exposed on dry ground or reduced to a bell tower above the surface. Further into the park, the monastery of St Jovan Bigorski holds an extraordinarily intricate carved wooden iconostasis, worked over years by a team of nineteenth-century woodcarvers.

What you actually see

• The submerged church - St Nicholas standing in the reservoir, its exposure varying with water level.
• St Jovan Bigorski - the monastery with its deeply carved wooden iconostasis.
• Korab waterfall - a tall seasonal fall on the Albanian border ridge.
• Mavrovo ski centre - the country's main winter sports area.

When to go

May to October for walking and the high pastures; December to March for skiing. The church looks most dramatic when water levels are high, generally in spring, and stands on dry ground in dry autumns.

Honest expectations

The reservoir level swings a great deal, so the half-submerged church that appears in photographs is sometimes simply a church in a field. The Korab climb is a long, serious full-day walk on a border ridge and needs planning. Ski infrastructure is dated compared with the Alps, and the park's road access is winding.

Nearby

Debar and its hot springs lie south; Ohrid is around two hours southwest.