This long but relatively easy hike is 20 km with 650 m ascent. I was brought by car from Ohrid to Pestani early in the morning by my father-in-law. From Pestani there are at least two paths leading into Galicica National Park. I took the 4×4 road south of Pestani, because we had come down to the center of Pestani via the other path a couple of years ago.
While walking along the main road though Pestani, you pass the Church of St Trojka (Holy Trinity). After Pestani the asphalt road takes a sharp right turn uphill, follow the asphalt road a bit longer and enter the park via the 4×4 dirtroad.
After 4 km you arrive at one of the most beautiful spots of this hike, a flat valley surrounded by the mountains called Pole Doline. When I was here in July 2019, a new church dedicated to St Spas was being erected at this amazing location. There used to be an older church at this location, also dedicated to St Spas, which is now incorporated into the new church. There are also a small almost dried-up lake and a well at this location.
From St Spas it is 2.5 km to the asphalt road through Galicica National Park which connects Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. A white/blue sign along the asphalt road indicates St Spas. You follow the asphalt road for about 800 m before you take a more interesting downhill trail in a curve to the left. You cross the asphalt road one more time and keep going downhill along an overgrown old mountain road. After less than 2 km from the asphalt road you will reach the location of a very nice cave, the Kristova cave. I had gotten the location of this cave a few days earlier from Riste who sold tickets for the Church of St Bogorodica Zahumska (St Zaum) near Trpejca, which can be reached with a short hike. Despite the description and approximate GPS coordinates, it took me about 1.5 hours searching in circles before I finally found a cave! This slightly frustrating effort was deleted from the GPS file. When I thought I had finally found the cave and crawled into it, it turned about just a shallow hole!
I decided to give up looking for the Krstova cave and continued on the 4×4 road. After just 50 m the description Riste had given me suddenly made sense, and there was a little pile of stones indicating the path to the Kristova cave! I felt so stupid to have spent 90 minutes searching for the cave, 50 meters from its location!
Stupid or not, the Krstova cave was completely worth the searching effort. It is a beautiful cave with quite a lot of decoration.
It requires a bit of crawling to enter the cave, but you can stand up almost right away.
After spending some time in this cave, which truly is a hidden gem, I continued to Trpejca where I did a little side-trip to visit the Naumova and Crna Pesht caves adding 2.6 km and 140 m climbing to the track. This part is deleted from the current track.
Soon after Trpejca you leave the asphalt road for another 140 m climbing. Some of this trail is a bit overgrown, but well do-able.
Before you reach the beach of Ljubanista at the St Naum campsite after 4 km, you will have some nice views of this rare sandy beach, which possibly is the best beach of Lake Ohrid.
You can take a refreshment at the camping bar at the beach if you like. In fact, maybe it is even better to stop the hike here and try to get a lift or taxi to Ljubanista or the Monastery of St Naum from where you can take a bus back to Ohrid. I say this because the last 4 km to St Naum are via the asphalt road and not very interesting. Maybe it is possible to reach the Monastery of St Naum via a more scenic route closer to the lake (check Google Earth if you want to try. I did not have the energy to try this and possibly have to walk back again, it was about 35 C)!
The Monastery of St Naum itself is certainly worth the visit. The surroundings of the monastery offer a beach and many possibilities to have a refreshment or proper meal.
From the small harbor of St Naum you can take a boat back, e.g. to Ohrid. Make sure you inform yourself about the possibilities and departure times in advance. Besides the boat, there are a few buses from St Naum back to Ohrid. Again, inform yourself about the departure times. Because I did not feel like waiting for the bus to Ohrid (about 2 euro) I took a taxi for 900 denars (about 15 euros). This turned out to be an excellent choice because the driver spoke English and was very knowledgeable about the area. Ilce (nicknamed Celo) knew the location of the “Meckina Dupka” or “Bear Cave” near Ohrid and I had been trying to find info about its location already for a week. In fact, we went together to visit the Bear Cave, in which he had played as a child!
Update 2022: Unfortunately, I found out that Ilce passed away in 2021. Rest in peace, my friend.
This hike gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. It is pretty diverse, offers some good views and the visit to the Krstova Cave absolutely was one of the highlights of my 2019 trip.
You can view and download the GPS track here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pestani-krstova-cave-trpejca-ljubanista-beach-st-naum-in-galicica-national-park-39849780
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