This hike in Shar National Park of 15 km with 800 m ascent was the best hike we did in Macedonia during the summer of 2025.
The views and nature are spectacular, the trail was good and we saw bears in the wild for the first time! It was an adult with two cubs and they ran away into the vegetation before I could make a picture, but it was so cool to finally see bears in Macedonia! Below a picture of some less exciting wildlife instead.
Note that you need to register and pay entrance fee for a car in Shar National Park: https://www.sarmountain.org.mk/
We parked the car where the GPS track starts, but there is very limited parking space and it would be smarter to park a bit earlier at the entrance of the village Novo Selo.
After about 3 km you have to pass a bridge over the river. The trail was a bit unclear here, we kept following the river on the left side.
The views were getting better and better during the walk.
The spot were we saw the bears is marked with a waypoint. They were somewhere between 50 and 100 meters away from us, on the other side of the small river.
We had a nice break at Lake Bogovinje (Bogovinjsko Ezero).
You have to pass the stream and walk back on the other side of the river.
At a certain moment, after about 9.5 km, make sure you leave the clear path that you have been following and connect to another trail. The path that connects these trails was not very obvious.
You’ll pass a small sheep farm, it was deserted when we passed. Always be aware of shepherd dogs at such farms in the mountains.
From one point we could spot the characteristic tower on Mount Titov, which we climbed a few years back.
This beautiful and very do-able hike gets 5 from 5 stars without a doubt!
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/novo-selo-to-bogovinje-lake-in-shar-national-park-235367077
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