Matka Canyon - Rasa peak - Marko's City - St Nedela - St Andrej

See https://mymacedoniablog.wordpress.com/ for more info about sightseeing and hiking in Macedonia.

This hike of 16 km with 1250 m ascent takes you to some interesting sights around the Matka Canyon, such as Markov Grad (Marko’s City) and the ruins of St Nedela with amazing views.

However, because this hike includes the Rasa Peak (1369 m) it is not an easy hike that you just do during a quick visit to Lake Matka. Also, the 1.2 km long descent from St Nedela to Lake Matka is VERY STEEP, with a grade of over 40% at some places. I would not recommend doing this when the trail is wet, or when you don’t have good hiking shoes. This is also the reason why I rated this hike as “difficult”.

If you would skip the part to the Rasa peak this hike would probably be about 8 km with 500 m total ascent. A waypoint indicates the crossing where you can make this call. Still, there would be the steep descent from St Nedela to Lake Matka, unless you walk back after your visit to St Nedela.

I did this hike on a Saturday end of September 2022. It gets busy at Lake Matka in the weekend, but around 08.00 h could still park at the beginning of this hike. Later parking may get challenging but Lake Matka is also reachable by public transport. When I got back at 15:30 it was very busy everywhere.

First visit is to the Monastery of St Bogorodica directly at the start of the hike. The church is open from 08.00-20.00. The monastery quarters are not available for visitors. You’re supposed to be decently dressed with shoulders and knees covered.

When the trail crosses a 4x4 road you can continue straight ahead where you will climb the mountain freestyle fashion without a clear trail. Or skip the Rasa peak, go left and take the easy 4x4 road past the Church of St Spas to the ruins of St Nedela.

Without a GPS it may be difficult to find the right trail to the Rasa Peak. After about 4 km you reach an asphalt road that was slightly difficult to get on to. You reach the fence of the reserve Jasen (http://www.jasen.com.mk/), which you follow uphill.

It was quite a climb to the Rasa peak, but there are some good views, You can see the characteristic pyramid shape of the Ljuboten peak in the distance, which I had climbed a few days earlier.

Back from the Rasa peak and again at the entrance of the Jasen reserve you take a forest trail downhill. Also here navigation without GPS may be a bit challenging.
The entrance of Marko’s City is impressive with huge stone walls. A very special place in the mountains!

The ruins of the Church of St Nedela are nearby. Make sure to spot the Church of St Nikola Shishovski at the other side of the canyon!

As stated above, the part between St Nedela and Lake Matka is very steep.

Take the time to enjoy beautiful Lake Matka, there is a restaurant at the lake as well. Also, you can take a boat ride and visit the Vrelo Cave of go for a kayak trip on the lake if you still have the energy.

There also is the Church of St Andrej (1388) at the lake.

It is a good hike, which was more demanding than I expected, likely due to the freestyle climb to the Rasa Peak and the challenging steep descent back to the lake. It gets 4 out of 5 stars.