North Macedonia Cave World Heritage
Slatinski Izvor
4.0 km of galleries.
Македонец · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 495 m.
The real relief above Slatinski Izvor, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
4.0km
Galleries
surveyed length (Wikidata)
495m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
13°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
534m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
13 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 13 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 32 °C at the entrance, 19 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to August.
- 5°-2°Jan
- 7°-1°Feb
- 12°2°Mar
- 17°6°Apr
- 22°11°May
- 27°15°Jun
- 31°18°Jul
- 32°18°Aug
- 26°13°Sep
- 20°8°Oct
- 13°4°Nov
- 7°-1°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in North Macedonia
Slatinski Izvor is a cave in North Macedonia. It has 4.0 km of surveyed galleries. The entrance is at 495 m. It has an underground river. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- No public accessProtected for science or for its art. Look for a replica or a visitor centre nearby.
- Makedonski Brodnearest town · 6.9 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.5 km from the entrance
- Skopje International Airport (SKP)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 54 km in a straight lineCar hire at SKP airport (Ilinden)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The the river runs highest from January to May and in November.
The the river carries about 15 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from January to May and in November. It is lowest in August.
- 22 m³/sJan
- 24 m³/sFeb
- 28 m³/sMar
- 30 m³/sApr
- 26 m³/sMay
- 16 m³/sJun
- 7.9 m³/sJul
- 5.5 m³/sAug
- 11 m³/sSep
- 18 m³/sOct
- 23 m³/sNov
- 20 m³/sDec
From about 5.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 30 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,052 km².
Follow the Crna from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmSlatino Spring Cave
- 1viewpoints within 3 km
- 2hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmИзвор, Пешна
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Makedonski Brod6.9 km in a straight line
- Samokov13 km in a straight line
- Plasnica14 km in a straight line
- Tuin15 km in a straight line
- Srbica16 km in a straight line
- Lažani17 km in a straight line
- Crnilište17 km in a straight line
- Strelci18 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Slatinski Izvor.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas7 rivers at the entrance
Peakyas5 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 5 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 31 | 32 | 26 | 20 | 13 | 7 |
| Afternoon | 5 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 31 | 32 | 26 | 20 | 13 | 7 |
| Night | -2 | -1 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 8 | 4 | -1 |
| Rain (mm) | 59 | 51 | 55 | 59 | 67 | 54 | 38 | 41 | 59 | 66 | 66 | 64 |
| Rainy days | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 11 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.3 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 6.6 | 7.9 | 9.8 | 10.7 | 9.9 | 7.3 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 2.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 14 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5 | 5 | -2 | 59 | 3.3 |
| Feb | 7 | 7 | -1 | 51 | 4.6 |
| Mar | 12 | 12 | 2 | 55 | 5.4 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 6 | 59 | 6.6 |
| May | 22 | 22 | 11 | 67 | 7.9 |
| Jun | 27 | 27 | 15 | 54 | 9.8 |
| Jul | 31 | 31 | 18 | 38 | 10.7 |
| Aug | 32 | 32 | 18 | 41 | 9.9 |
| Sep | 26 | 26 | 13 | 59 | 7.3 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 8 | 66 | 5.8 |
| Nov | 13 | 13 | 4 | 66 | 4.0 |
| Dec | 7 | 7 | -1 | 64 | 2.9 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (495 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 31% | 77% | 160% | 127% | 39% | 61% | 123% | 294% | 37% | 57% | 53% | 82% |
| 2021 | 343% | 79% | 78% | 247% | 26% | 52% | 42% | 40% | 53% | 194% | 91% | 103% |
| 2022 | 42% | 160% | 49% | 60% | 57% | 277% | 98% | 131% | 82% | 60% | 99% | 75% |
| 2023 | 127% | 22% | 128% | 128% | 343% | 323% | 92% | 60% | 34% | 43% | 177% | 71% |
| 2024 | 131% | 40% | 189% | 94% | 99% | 48% | 33% | 50% | 167% | 50% | 93% | 193% |
| 2025 | 34% | 9% | 117% | 96% | 96% | 12% | 7% | 47% | 51% | 124% | 244% | 38% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Slatinski Izvor
North Macedonia
- —Depth
- 4.0 kmGalleries
- 495 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Pešna Cave
North Macedonia · 4 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 589 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Vrelo Cave
North Macedonia · 40 km
- 230 mDepth
- —Galleries
- 600 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Zmejovica
North Macedonia · 11 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,460 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q12909548) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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