The stunningly beautiful Mikri and Megali Prespa lakes (small and large Prespa) are at the northwest borders of Greece. 300 km² in the Florina region, next to mount Varnountas and at the Albania and Northern Macedonia borders.
Lake Megali Prespa, the largest lake in the Balkans, lies at 850 m. altitude, its deepest point is 50 m, and it covers 290 m². It is shared by three countries, since 22% belongs to Greece, 60% to Northern Macedonia and 18% to Albania.
It is an aquatic paradise of rare natural beauty and value. With over 200 bird species, 1300 plant species, incredible richness in fish, the Prespa lakes welcome you to a unique landscape that exudes calm; villages with stone and brick houses, cloudy landscapes, sunny peaks covered in snow, beech trees and reeds, and endless bean fields.
Each time you visit a place, the first image gives you an idea of what will follow. A cosmopolitan place, an intense place, a calm place, a traditional place, a place perched on a mountain or lying on a valley. Here, in the Prespa area, as soon as you arrive you immediately feel calm. Your head lowers, your eyes relax, and the lands’ and lakes’ fragrances “speak” of past times. Here, time slows down, the absolute silence is interrupted occasionally by birds twittering and animal noises. Abandoned settlements, traditional villages and stone-built houses, the smell of fireplaces always lit. Egrets, cormorants, pelicans and dozens of other bird species are moving lazily around and inside the Megali and Mikri Prespa lakes.
Every movement here, even that of the cars, is relaxed, lazy, it seems like no one is in a hurry. The surrounding mountains are either covered in green or in snow, and seem to be embracing the lakes, to protect them. You will feel the same; joy, warmth, safety, all in an escape from reality. This place is a mosaic of cultures with deep roots throughout the centuries and you feel it from the very first moment.
