Staro Selo to Ljuboten Peak on Shar Mountain

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This hike from the village Staro Selo to the Ljuboten Peak (2498 m) is 20 km long with 1600 m ascent.

The Ljuboten peak is part of the Shar Mountains, located on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. It is a bit isolated from the rest of the mountain range, and has a very characteristic shape of a pyramid that can be seen from far away once you know what it looks like.

Staro Selo is about an hour drive by car from Skopje. I left Skopje around 06.00 and started the hike a bit after 07.00 in the morning.

I parked near the church on top of the village Staro Selo, note that there is not a lot of parking space.

The first 6 km to the mountain hut Ljuboten follows a 4x4 track, which you sometimes leave for a shortcut through the forest, see the waypoints in the GPS track because you easily miss these shortcuts.

The mountain hut was closed when I arrived there around 09.00. From the hut it is 4 km to the Ljuboten Peak.

There was a group of 4 other hikers a bit ahead of me, I met them at the top and they shared their delicious lunch with homegrown tomatoes and meat with me. I had to decline the rakija with pain in my heart since I was doing this hike by myself and still had to get back down in one piece!

It was very foggy on the way to the top, and also at the top itself there was hardly any sight of the surroundings. Nevertheless, the parts of the landscape that were visible from time to time were beautiful.

Back at the Ljuboten Mountain hut, the hut was open and I was invited in for a cup of coffee and a nice chat by Jovan Bozinoski, who is the president of the mountaineering club Ljuboten. He offered me some great swag in the form of several hiking maps of the High Scardus Trail on the Shar and Korab mountains (official website: https://www.high-scardus-trail.com/, unofficial website: https://highscardustrail.com/) and the guidebook of the Balkan Hiking Adventure (https://www.balkanhikingadventure.com/).

The Ljuboten mountain hut dates back to 1931 and recently was restored. You can stay in the hut for 12-15 euros, depending on the room. There are also a few separate small huts for two persons, including a super tiny bathroom in each hut, which cost 1000 denar (17 euro) per person. Soon those huts will have heating as well.

The hut is open in the weekend and in the future they plan to be open during the week as well. They advise always to contact them before coming to the hut!

Contact details Ljuboten Mountain hut: dom@pkljuboten.org.mk, phone +389 78 229 229, http://pkljuboten.org.mk/

The mountain hut Ljuboten even has a small restaurant, so you don’t have to take your own food as often is the case with other mountain huts. This mountain house is really stepping up! There are pictures of the menu in Macedonian language.

I really would like to stay here one or two nights in the future. Besides the hike to the Ljuboten peak, there are several other hikes that you can do with the Ljuboten Mountain hut as a basecamp, such as to the Livadichko Lake. I am quite sure I’ll come back here one day!

The 6 km from the mountain hut back to Staro Selo are a bit boring, because they are on the 4x4 road that you already walked on your way up. Although the part from the hut to the peak is very scenic (but foggy in my case), I would give this hike a 3 out of 5 rating because of the slightly boring 4x4 road that leads up to the hut.