Lake · North Macedonia, Albania
Lake Ohrid
Lake Ohrid lies among mountains on the border between North Macedonia and Albania. It is one of the oldest and deepest lakes in Europe, and its clear water is home to many animals found nowhere else.
Picture credit: Pudelek (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Pudelek (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Pudelek (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Lake Ohrid?
Countries on its shores: North Macedonia, Albania.
Largest lake of: North Macedonia.
Middle of the lake: 41.03° N, 20.72° E
The story behind it
Scientists drilled deep into the mud at the bottom of Lake Ohrid and found that the lake is more than a million years old. In places it is 288 metres deep, which makes it the deepest lake in the Balkans. More than 200 kinds of living things are found only here, among them many small snails and the Ohrid trout. Much of the water arrives in secret: Lake Prespa lies about 10 km away and 150 metres higher, and water flows from it underground through the rock. More than a fifth of Lake Ohrid's water comes from there, and some of it bubbles up in springs near the old monastery of Sveti Naum. The towns of Ohrid, Struga and Pogradec lie on the shore, and the lake is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. About 69 % of the lake belongs to North Macedonia, and that part alone is bigger than any other lake in the country.
Find it on the globe
Lake Ohrid is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Lake Ohrid?
Lake Ohrid covers about 358 km², and in places it is 288 metres deep. About 69 % of it belongs to North Macedonia and about 31 % to Albania.
How old is Lake Ohrid?
A study published in 2021 found that the lake is about 1.36 million years old. That makes it one of the oldest lakes in Europe.
Where does the water of Lake Ohrid come from?
Rivers and springs bring water into the lake, and more than a fifth of it flows underground from Lake Prespa, which lies higher up. The Black Drin river carries the water away again.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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