Tourism in Macedonia

River Vardar

The Vardar or Axios (Macedonian: Вардар (help·info); Greek: Αξιός, Axiós or Βαρδάρης, Vardárīs; Latin: Axius) is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is 388 kilometres long, and drains an area of around 25 000 km².

The spring of the river Vardar, is one of the greatest natural beauties of the Gostivar region.

There, near the village of Vrutok at an altitude of 683 meters, from the base of the mountain Shara rises the river Vardar. From the spring the riverbed of Vardar widens. The river flows still by the villages and meanders through the valley before its exit from Gostivar. The river Vardar devides Gostivar in two. A real feast for the eyes.

Unfortunately, downstream from Vrutok, through the cities, the river Vardar has become a dump for the garbage of the negligent people. Let us clean this dump, save our treasure and make the natural beauty of the river Vardar be our pride again.

Vardar is the longest and the most significant river in Macedonia. Its total lenght is 388 km, and to Macedonia Vardar generously gave 301 km of it. It runs off into the Aegean sea. The average annual flow is 63 m³/s in Skopje gauging station and goes to 144,9 m³/s in Gevgelija gauging station, while the specific run off at the same profile is 6,5 l/s/km?. Vardar has 37 major tributaries out of which 15 are on the right, and 22 on the left side. The most important ones are: Pena, Treska, Lepenec, Pcinja, Bregalnica, Markova Reka, Topolka, Babuna and Crna Reka.

Today, we can say, that River Vardar is a dumping site for various chemical substances. Several intoxinations and pollutions of River Vardar, especially in the vicinity of Veles, have occurred and the poisoned fish contained mercury, zinc, lead, ammonia, cadmium etc. Therefore, we must warn the fishermen that fish from this area is not edible and they could harm human health.

The development of Vardar valley is not just interesting for Macedonia but for the neighbouring countries, as well as for EU. For example, a very concrete proposal has been drafted on the development of this area by the European Council in the study "Physical Planning of the European Problem" in 1970.