Lake · North Macedonia · Albania
Lake Ohrid
Lake in North Macedonia and Albania
- Area
- 354km²
- Max depth
- 289m
- Average depth
- 68m
- Elevation
- 689m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 87km
- Volume
- 24.0km³
Lake Ohrid is a lake in North Macedonia. It covers 354 km². On average it is 68 m deep, and 289 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 689 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Ohrid?
The water is warmest in August, around 23 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 7 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to September: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 28 °C on average in August and 3 °C in January. The driest month is August (28 mm of rain), the wettest November (92 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (172 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7 | 8 | 3 | -4 | 76 | 11 | 3.5 | 11 |
| February | 7 | 7 | 5 | -3 | 68 | 11 | 4.3 | 12 |
| March | 8 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 64 | 11 | 4.8 | 12 |
| April | 12 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 61 | 12 | 6.0 | 10 |
| May | 16 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 61 | 11 | 7.4 | 10 |
| June | 20 | 22 | 24 | 13 | 44 | 8 | 9.6 | 9 |
| July | 23 | 24 | 28 | 16 | 30 | 6 | 10.7 | 9 |
| August | 23 | 24 | 28 | 16 | 28 | 6 | 9.8 | 8 |
| September | 21 | 23 | 22 | 12 | 70 | 9 | 7.1 | 9 |
| October | 18 | 20 | 16 | 7 | 81 | 10 | 5.8 | 9 |
| November | 13 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 92 | 13 | 4.1 | 10 |
| December | 9 | 11 | 5 | -2 | 92 | 13 | 3.2 | 11 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 49 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 978 km² of land.
- About 16 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Ohrid
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 43beaches and swimming spots
Orevche, Metropolis Beach, Beach Aquarius, Versus Beach, May Flower and 38 more
- 34campsites
Camping Rei, Camp Andon Dukov, Lin, Sunrise, Arbi and 29 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 4marinas and slipways
- 8ferry piers
Dolno Konjsko, Bay of Bones, Saint Naum, Ohrid, Ochrid - Kalischta and 3 more
- 24viewpoints
Kalaja Pogradec, Bay of Bones Viewpoint, Vista stp, Boardwalk Viewpoint, Ohrid and 19 more
- 279hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hotel EUROTEL, Hotel Beograd, Hotel BELVEDERE, Vila Albina, De Lux Apartments Ohrid and 274 more
- —fishing spots
- 265restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Pogradec46,070 people
- Ohrid42,033 people
- Struga37,387 people
- Radolista2,814 people
- Mislesevo1,988 people
- Buçimas
- Udënisht
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport (OHD), 18 km in a straight line.
Car hire at OHD airport (Ohrid)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 3.2 | 4.8 | 8.9 | 13.5 | 18.3 | 23.6 | 27.9 | 28.4 | 22.0 | 16.5 | 10.5 | 4.7 |
| 2020 | +0.9 | +2.5 | +1.0 | −0.6 | +0.6 | −2.1 | +0.3 | +0.2 | +2.6 | +0.3 | +0.7 | +3.3 |
| 2021 | +1.2 | +2.1 | −1.5 | −1.7 | +0.6 | +1.0 | +2.4 | +2.3 | +1.1 | −2.8 | +1.1 | −0.3 |
| 2022 | +0.1 | +1.0 | −3.1 | ±0.0 | +2.8 | +2.8 | +2.3 | −0.4 | +0.8 | +2.2 | +1.6 | +4.5 |
| 2023 | +2.8 | +0.9 | +1.2 | −1.9 | −1.3 | −1.8 | +2.1 | +0.7 | +3.3 | +4.0 | +1.2 | +2.2 |
| 2024 | +1.5 | +3.9 | +2.1 | +2.9 | +0.5 | +4.5 | +4.3 | +3.0 | +0.5 | +2.1 | +0.3 | +1.0 |
| 2025 | +2.6 | +0.7 | +2.8 | +0.5 | −0.6 | +4.7 | +3.5 | +0.6 | +2.5 | −1.3 | +1.2 | +2.9 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
North Macedonia263 km² · 30 km away24°maxSmall Prespa lake
Greece37.8 km² · 40 km away25°maxDebar LakeNorth Macedonia10.1 km² · 57 km away24°maxLake OrestiadaGreece28.0 km² · 73 km away26°maxMavrovo LakeNorth Macedonia10.4 km² · 75 km away21°maxKaravasta LagoonAlbania40.2 km² · 103 km away28°maxAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q156258) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
