Located just outside of Skopje, Macedonia, the Matka Canyon is a beautiful canyon with towering rock walls and a flowing blue river. Visiting this canyon is a must for anyone visiting Macedonia. The scenery is great and there’s plenty of options for how to explore once you arrive.
While you could visit the Matka Canyon on your own (and I’ll touch on this briefly later in this post), I believe that a guided tour is the best option for those traveling through Macedonia without a car. So, here’s what to expect on your Matka Canyon tour.
Matka Canyon Guided Tour
I booked my tour with Skopje Daily Tours, though you can also book through GetYourGuide. I was very happy with my tour and it’s why I recommend it for other travelers to Macedonia. So, here’s what the tour is actually like.
A Visit to the Matka Canyon
Obviously, the highlight of any Matka Canyon tour is the visit the to Matka Canyon itself. After meeting your guide in Skopje, it’s time to drive. Along the way, you’ll be given some history and background about Skopje and Macedonia, but since I had taken a walking tour in Skopje the day before, there wasn’t much new information for me. You’ll navigate traffic as you make your way out of the city center and towards the Matka Canyon.
It’s not a long drive, since you can reach the Matka Canyon by city bus, but traffic can make it take a bit longer. Plus, once you arrive at the Matka Canyon, you’ll have to contend with all of the other tourists. I promise that it’s worth it. The scenery at the Matka Canyon is gorgeous and my guide was telling me that even though she comes here every other day, she has yet to get sick of it.
I visited in September, so our guide was able to drop us off right near the main entrance and park relatively close by. In the peak summer months, this may not be possible. From the drop off spot, it’s about a ten minute walk to the main area where you’ll find additional walking paths, kayak rentals, and a boat tour.
If you’re traveling on your own, you could consider walking along the canyon walls or renting a kayak. If you’re here on a guided tour from Skopje, I recommend taking the boat tour. This is not included with your tour fee, but it’s just 500 MKD and I think it’s the best way to see the canyon if you’re short on time.
The boat tour takes one hour. You’ll ride for twenty minutes to the Vrelo Cave. Here you’ll have a bit of time to walk down into the cave and take some photos before you have to get back on the boat for the twenty minute ride back to the start. From the boat, you’ll get some incredible views of the towering mountains around you.
The cave is worth a stop. While it hasn’t been proven yet, some experts think that this might be the deepest cave in the world. It’s still being explored, but part of the cave is open for visitors and despite visiting several caves across the world, this one felt different. I can’t quite explain why, but the rock formations felt so different than anything else I’d seen before. It’s absolutely worth getting off the boat and venturing into the cave.
After the boat ride, we had another half hour to do as we pleased. There’s a restaurant if you want to get a coffee or a quick snack, but if you have the energy, I recommend walking just a little bit of the hiking trail. On the boat ride, you likely saw people walking along this trail and now it’s your chance to do the same. Obviously you’ll want to keep an eye on the clock, but I was able to walk out about 10 minutes and get some fantastic photos of the Matka Canyon.
Once everyone is back, it’s time to say goodbye to the Matka Canyon as you head to your next stop.
Monastery of St. Panteleimon
As you travel the Balkans, you’ll find loads of monasteries all over the countryside (and even some closer to major cities). As we drove from the Matka Canyon toward Mount Vodno and the Millennium Cross, we stopped at the Monastery of St. Panteleimon. Entrance to the courtyard is free and there’s a very nice view overlooking Skopje.
But what this monastery is famous for is the frescoes inside the church. These frescoes date back centuries and rather than depicting saints, as is traditional in most Orthodox Churches, these frescoes tell stories of the Bible. Presumably this was to help the illiterate congregation understand these stories better.
What I also found interesting about this church is that the iconostasis (the barrier separating worshipers from the altar) has been mostly removed. I think this is the first Orthodox Church that I’ve been in where you can actually see a bit behind the iconostasis and for that was something just a little different.
Typically it costs 2 euros to enter, but we were told since we were traveling on a Monday, it was free to enter.
If you’re here on a Monday (like I was) the Ethnographic Museum is closed and you won’t have the opportunity to visit. The museum is free so if you are here on the correct day and it’s open, I’d pop in to see it.
Etno Village
Just up the road from the Monastery of St. Panteleimon is the Etno Village. This has been designed as a tourist stop, but with some history behind it. Of course you’ll find souvenir shops and restaurants, but the main goal of this stop is to show what houses all around Macedonia look like.
As you walk through the lanes, you can find traditional houses coming from numerous different regions in Macedonia. Is it interesting? For a little bit, but it’s not my favorite on this Matka Canyon day trip.
If your guide tries to show you any of the marble that comes from this area, you should absolutely follow them and learn more. My guide took us into one of the souvenir shops where we were able to see the marble that’s used. What’s really fascinating is that they were able to find rubies in this marble. They aren’t as brilliant of a red as what you might expect, but under the light, the color changes dramatically and they are something very unique. Since Macedonia is the only country in Europe to naturally produce rubies, this can make an excellent souvenir if you’re in the market for some new jewelry.
Cable Car to the Millennium Cross
The finale of the tour is a chance to ride the Cable Car to the Millennium Cross for views over the city of Skopje. This is not included in the cost of your tour, but the fee is reasonable and it can be a great way to cap off your day trip.
However. If you’re traveling on a Monday, you won’t be able to ride the cable car. This is the day that the cable car shuts down for maintenance. On days like this, your visit to the Millennium Cross is replaced by an overlook of Skopje along the road. This is free and while it’s probably not as cool as the Millennium Cross, I still appreciate the tour company’s attempts to get tourists a nice view of their city.
It’s also worth noting that the cable car is currently down for repairs and has been down for most of the 2026 summer tourist season. I’m not sure when exactly it will be running again, but it was not running during my visit and I didn’t hear a guaranteed timeframe for when it will start. According to my tour guide, they found some safety issue with the cable car so it’s been shuttered indefinitely until they can get things fixed and working safely.
So, even though I traveled on a Monday, I wouldn’t have been able to ride the cable car anyway. The view is nice, but honestly, I appreciated the scenic drive along the mountain more than our overlook.
Do You Need to Take a Guided Tour to the Matka Canyon?
I think a guided tour to the Matka Canyon is the easiest and most convenient option if you don’t have a car. The tour price is reasonable (20 euros for the entire tour plus the cost of any additional add ons like the boat tour) and includes stops at the Matka Canyon, views on Mount Vodno, and a stop at the Ento Village. Without a car, it’d be very difficult to see all of this in one day.
That said, if you want to travel on your own, you can take a public bus. While I haven’t tried it, a tour guide told me that bus #60 will go from the city of Skopje all the way to the Matka Canyon. There are also buses that will go to the cable car for the Millennium Cross, but I do not know which buses those are.
How Long is the Matka Canyon Guided Tour?
The guided tour the Matka Canyon takes about six hours. My tour was a bit faster because we were a very small group, but we only had three tourists in my van so we moved quickly. If we were back early and ready to go, our guide was ready to take us to the next stop, which I appreciated.
More in Skopje, North Macedonia
I really enjoyed my time in Skopje. Yes, I loved the Matka Canyon because I always love seeing beautiful nature, but I enjoyed the city as well. I highly recommend taking a walking tour to learn more about the city, but beyond the walking tour there’s some interesting things you can see. I recommend wandering through the Old Bazaar, getting views of the city of Skopje from the Skopje Fortress, and visiting one of the museums (I really enjoyed the National Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Final Thoughts
The Matka Canyon is so close to Skopje that it seems silly to come all the way to Skopje and not spend a bit of time appreciating the natural beauty of Macedonia. While I believe a guided tour is the simplest way to visit, there are other options. So, now matter how you visit the Matka Canyon, make sure you include a visit when you are in Skopje.
