While much of Europe was sweltering under a heatwave, we were fortunate to enjoy cooler, changeable weather with patchy clouds and light rain—perfect conditions for an outdoor adventure. My daughter was over for te weekend so equipped with plenty of water and good shoes – a must – we set off toward Shar National Park Tetovo to hike the Kamenjane Waterfalls trail.

Located in the northwestern region of North Macedonia, the Kamenjane Waterfalls flow through Shar Mountain National Park. Established in 2021 after years of environmental campaigning, the park protects local forests and wildlife. Importantly, it connects directly with neighbouring national parks in Kosovo and Albania, forming a massive cross-border sanctuary where wild animals such as bears and wolves can roam freely, sightings of these animals are rare and its unlikely that you would come across these animals whilst out hiking.

For more information about hiking in this region head over to My Macedonia Blog to find a wealth of information on hiking in North Macedonia, along with links to all the routes, all of which have been tried and tested.

Route & Planning Strategy

The Waterfall trail connects eight distinct waterfalls, but I had read that the ladder between Waterfall 7 and Waterfall 8 is currently in disrepair but wanting to see Waterfall 8 we decided to split the visit into two sections:

Waterfall 8 First: After turning off the main road, continue about 200 meters through Kamenjane village until you see a sharp right turn which heads up the mountain. Follow this road and after about 1.5 km—just past the rubbish dump—you’ll see a picnic area with parking. Leave your car here and pick up the trail directly across the road, which leads straight to the 8th waterfall. The walk is a gentle 1.5 km along a slightly overgrown but manageable path, with amazing views across the valley before opening up into a fairytale-like setting complete with streaming water and weathered wooden bridges leading up to the top of the waterfall. The path was filled with colourful butterflies, particularly Silver-washed Fritillaries and Common Blues.

We walked from this waterfall – you have to cross over and walk down the other side down to waterfall 7 where we could look down to the ‘viewing platform’ but the ladder was indeed in disrepair so we walked back to the car to drive back round the mountain to the main trailhead. We wondered should we do it as this was just so nice but we thought to miss out on 7 waterfalls was asking a bit much!

We drove back to the junction where we had turned right and now turned left through the little village, if you continu on this road you end up on a farm – fortunately a very friendly farmer signalled that we should turn left to the car park . I guess we weren’t the first people to have driven onto his farm looking for a waterfall!

It is signposted but be aware that this area is mainly Albanian and should you have mastered the Macedonian language it will be of little use here!

Anyway we parked our car at the bottom of the track and started walking – at about 200m we saw on our lefthand side an old building that turned out to be an active, traditional watermill. After having our water bottles refilled with fresh stream water, we stepped inside to watch the miller at work grinding wheat and corn into flour. We bought a freshly milled bag of wheat flour for just €1 per kilo.

We then continued our walk up the gravel path, it was quite steep but also shady and not too strenuous. (Always make sure you take enough water and snacks with you.)

After about 1km we saw a picnic area and we walked over a makeshift bridge as the new stone bridge was under construction and headed up the track towards the waterfall. It wasn’t busy, but the few people we met were friendly and encouraging without being intrusive giving us the time and space to admire our surroundings which were just incredible!

Walking up the waterfalls was pretty amazing, a series of rickety ladders had been made – and to a certain extent maintained, the difference with the Duf waterfall was that most of the railings were sturdy and could be lent on for support – a word of warning, always check this first!  Again the cool air from the water and the shade made the walk to be thoroughly enjoyable. It is quite a trek between waterfalls but with good shoes and plenty of water it is certainly doable.

The Descent requires careful footwork. The wooden steps and ladders have noticeable gaps, making the descent a bit tough on the knees! For this reason I would not do this walk with children under 12 as you have to take really big steps to miss the gaps. If you wanted to take kids I would go to Waterfall 8 because that is absolutely magical!

Ending the Day in Skopje

After completing the trek, we rewarded ourselves with a trip into Skopje for a well-earned dinner: traditional pastrmajlija paired with a cold beer.