Lake Ohrid is gorgeous, but it is also pretty big. While you may want to dip your toes into its turquoise waters, you may not know where you can do that the best. Although I stayed in Ohrid proper for six nights, I have to admit that I never even dared to swim in the beaches near my location. Read on to find out where the best places are to swim around Lake Ohrid, and how you can get to them.
Let us set one thing straight. You can, and perhaps should, swim in Ohrid, the city that is. There are plenty of beaches for everyone. Some are small, some are big. Some have sunbeds, some do not. Some have food delivered to your tanning spot, some are home to lake snakes sneaking around. However, frankly, none of these beaches were meant for me. I do not enjoy small beaches, I also do not like swimming near the harbour. I definitely do not like swimming with snakes, and I am not in favour of full-service beaches where things can get a bit too commercial. That is why, I looked elsewhere when I wanted to swim during my trip to Ohrid in the summer of 2024.
I found the perfect spot to swim in all of Lake Ohrid during a boat trip I took down south to see the gorgeous Saint Naum Monastery, as well as the springs of Lake Ohrid that are found nearby. This monastery has the only properly sandy beach on all of this lovely lake, to my knowledge that is, and though I am not a fan of having sand in my swimsuit, I was told that the sand makes it very unlikely for us to encounter snakes or moss in the water, which turned out to be true.
This is also where Lake Ohrid is fed by freshwater coming from the nearby springs. This particular part is, as you may guess, extremely cold. This is most welcome when it is almost 40 degrees Celsius outside. You can also find some restaurants and pubs along the shore, and even a market for all your snacking needs. You can rent two sunbeds for 600 MKD, which is fair if you end up using them for most of the day. I would also recommend you all to visit the monastery itself, and the springs that you can reach after a short walk.
So how do you get to the best beach Lake Ohrid has to offer? To my knowledge, there are four ways. You can drive there yourself and park your car for 100 MKD. You can take a taxi, preferably with others to lower the cost of the journey. You can do a boat trip to St. Naum, as they call at this port for about two to three hours, giving you some time to explore the surroundings and swim a bit. Or you can take a bus heading there using the timetable above. I cannot guarantee this being correct for the years to come, but if you just make your way to this bus stop HERE, from where these buses leave, you can most likely see the current schedule at the time of your travels in the region.
This trip costs 130 MKD one way and the bus should arrive at St. Naum in less than an hour. The way back using the same bus is a bit awkward, since there are no schedules on the other end of this route, near the monastery. You will simply have to guess when the next bus would arrive and then hop on it before it goes back to Ohrid. For example, in my case, I took the 4.15pm bus back to Ohrid. I suspected the 3.30pm bus that leaves Ohrid would be at St. Naum in thirty minutes earliest, and sixty minutes latest, so I started waiting for it at the bus station by 4pm. After fifteen minutes, it arrived at the bus stop near the monastery. I hopped on it alongside many others, and merrily made my way back to my apartment in the city. It is not the most comfortable mode of transportation out there, but it is the cheapest, and it gets the job done.
If you would rather enjoy a beach that is closer to Ohrid, and would not mind a more frequent transportation option to be available to you, look no further than Struga! While the beaches here are not as good as the one you can find at St. Naum, there are nevertheless some somewhat sandy ones that are also pretty peaceful. In this photo, if you walk into the water for around thirty meters you will be saved from the tyranny of small rocks and mud, and be graced by some proper sand, which is a joy for your feet to say the least. You can expect to pay a similar fee for your sunbeds here, though some options include paying 1500 MKD and using the said sum as credit towards ordering from certain nearby establishments. Either way, there are ample sunbeds to make use of on weekdays. Admittedly, in both beaches, weekends are pretty hectic, so I would advise against swimming on Saturdays and Sundays if possible. Last but not least, you can also swim in the canal that Struga has, which many teenagers do, but I did not try that myself. From the same bus stop that you used to get to St. Naum, you can also get on a minibus heading to Struga. The fee this time is 70 MKD one way, and you should get off the minibus at the bus stop near THIS location. You can take this half an hour journey on the other direction once you have had enough swimming in Struga by going back to this bus stop and waiting for the next minibus heading back home.
While I had my reservations, I must admit that swimming in a lake was surprisingly enjoyable, and dare I say, a better experience than the one I had swimming in many seas and oceans so far. Lack of jellyfish is definitely a plus in my book, and the water not being salty does help with feeling a bit more refreshed after taking a plunge in the water. Each to their own, but if you want to swim in a lake, and that lake happens to be Lake Ohrid, you now know which beaches are the best and how to get to them.