This pleasant hike takes you from the site Dva Jovara in Galicica National Park to the Samotska Dupka Cave and is about 16 km long with 475 m ascent.
I had been wanting to visit the Samotska Dupka cave already for over ten years. We had been there before but found it locked. I had contacted Galicica National Park several times, but they always said it was not possible to visit the cave for different reasons, the generator to supply electricity for the lights in the cave had been stolen, later the cave was locked to protect the fauna in the cave etc. This year (2024) we heard from somebody that the cave actually was not locked anymore so we decided to give it another try. Don’t blame me when you find the cave locked again in the future!
The easiest way to reach the Samotska Dupka cave is probably when you start at the end of the asphalt road to the old ski center in Galicica National Park, I believe this place or area is called “Dva Javora” or “Two Maple Trees”. The asphalt road becomes an unpaved 4×4 mountain road at this point and passes the mountain hut “Sharbojka” located at the site called Asan Gjura (also spelled Asan Gura, Asan Dzura, Asan Djura) before you reach the cave. Alternative routes to the Samotska Dupka Cave are via the villages Konjsko, Elshani or Velestovo.
However, we wanted to make a loop instead of walking the same route in both direction so we parked the car about 1 km before Dva Javora and the ski center.
Soon we found out the 4×4 road that we intended to follow for our hike was blocked off with a fence. This area is a protected reproductive center for red deer. We followed the fence parallel to the intended trail until we reached the end of the protected area. We were even able to spot some of the deer in the protected area! This is a trail mainly through forest.
After some time you exit the forest into a beautiful open valley.
You follow the trail through the valley for about 1 km until you reach a (dry) pond and a signpost that shows the direction to the cave. We saw quite a lot of mushrooms in this area. From there it is a short but steep climb to the Samotska Dupka Cave.
The cave indeed was unlocked this time, there was a chain around the gate but without a padlock. Make sure you close the gate well again when you leave to prevent animals from getting trapped in the cave. There is a ladder to help you descent into the cave. There were quite a lot of skeletons in the beginning of the cave.
The cave is 224 meters long and very easy to navigate if you have a good light with you. It is a high cave, you can walk upright all the way to the end. Although there are not a lot of decorations in the cave, it was one of the most enjoyable caves I have visited thus far in Macedonia. Maybe because of the anticipation since it took so long before we finally could visit!
After the cave you descent toward another valley. You pass a small pond before you reach the mountain hut called Sharbojka, at the site called Asan Gjura. We planned to have lunch here but the mountain hut was full with people who were having lunch there, they were travelling through the park in jeeps and playing loud music. We decided to have a more quite lunch further on.
This is a beautiful part of Galicica National Park, on an easy to follow 4×4 track. It seems the jeeps don’t all follow the same track, which is a bit of a pity because some parts started to look like a 6 lane highway for 4×4 vehicles, disfiguring the nature.
At the old ski center the 4×4 track becomes the asphalt road leading back to the start of this hike.
This hike gets 4 out of 5 stars. Walking along the fence of the deer reproduction center was not the most scenic part, but the superb cave and the other nice panoramas made up for that.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/dva-javora-to-samotska-dupka-cave-in-galicica-national-park-189744121
My Macedonia Blog 