Lake Ohrid

Beautifully situated lake on the border with Macedonia

Lake Ohrid ([ˈɔxridzeː], Macedonian Охридско Езеро Ohridsko Ezero, Albanian Liqeni i Ohrit, rarely also Liqeni i Pogradecit) is the second largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula and one of the oldest in the world. It belongs to a greater part to North Macedonia, of which it is the largest body of water, and to a smaller part to Albania (see also border between Albania and North Macedonia).[3] The water level is 695 m above sea level. The maximum depth is 288 meters. Its area is given in North Macedonia as 349 square kilometers,[4] while official Albanian sources even speak of 362.6 square kilometers[2] and other figures such as 358 square kilometers can be found in the literature.[1] On the North Macedonian shore, Ohrid and Struga are the most important cities, on the Albanian shore it is Pogradec. In total, more than 200,000 people live around the lake.[5]The lake is at the centre of the UNESCO World Heritage Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region. In 1979, the Yugoslavian part of the lake was registered as a natural heritage site, and the following year it was expanded to include the cultural heritage of the region and the - strongly religious - cultural landscape around the lake. In 2019, the Albanian part was also included in the World Heritage Site.