Vishni to Albanian border (17 km)

Vishni hike to Albanian border near Lake Ohrid in Macedonia
Vishni hike

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

This hike goes from the village Vishni to the border with Albania, and back via the same trail. The trail itself is a rather uneventful 4×4 road which was remarkably busy with cars.

Only after about 6 km climbing the views become better than just the vegetation alongside the 4×4 road. There is a spot that is used as the starting point for paragliders.

Not much further uphill there are the ruins of some buildings.

Vishni hike to Albanian border near Lake Ohrid in Macedonia
Ruins

The last part of the hike, from the 4×4 road to the border with Albania is completely the opposite of the straight-forward dirt road: There was not a clear track and it was pretty much free style though the forest. Recently cut trees sometimes blocked the way. If you’re not comfortable with this you can skip this part of course. On the other hand, it’s less than 1 km hard work and the view is rewarding (especially compared with the lack of a good view during the rest of this hike).

Vishni hike to Albanian border near Lake Ohrid in Macedonia
Vishni hike

There is an interesting watchtower visible from the top. I wanted to visit this tower during another hike from Gorna Belica to Radozda, but that hike took longer than expected and I did not have time to make a detour to look for this tower. What a shame because it looks cool! You may want to check out the location of this tower on Google Earth and make a waypoint so you can find it more easily.

The GSP track that I followed mentions the place “Tri Silka”, also spelled “Tri Shilka” or “Tri Shiljka”. I googled this and it may be either a peak, the ruins that we saw before, the watchtower or the spot used by paragliders. However, I don’t think it is the “peak” that we reached with this hike.

Vishni hike to Albanian border near Lake Ohrid in Macedonia
Tower

From the top, we went back to the 4×4 road via the same way we came, and then back to Vishni (which was quite boring along the 4×4 road).

Due to the lack of good views during this hike (except for our picnic on what may be a small peak) and having to walk the boring 4×4 track twice, this hike only gets 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Vishni itself has several churches, of which the Cave Church of St Spas is a must-see. It’s probably about 2-3 km walking to the Cave Church of St Bogorodica outside of the village, if you still have some energy left after this hike!

You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/vishni-to-albanian-border-54911426

Vishni hike to Albanian border near Lake Ohrid in Macedonia
Vishni to Albanian border