North Macedonia canyon rim
Matka Canyon
You can see 30 km from here, looking north.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 30 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 30 kmFarthest ridgelooking north
- 85%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 1Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 590 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 1 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from July to August.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west30 min before the sea-level sunset26%
- Febsouth-west40 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Marwest48 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Aprwest72 min before the sea-level sunset34%
- Maywest96 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Junwest106 min before the sea-level sunset47%
- Julwest100 min before the sea-level sunset61%
- Augwest82 min before the sea-level sunset65%
- Sepwest58 min before the sea-level sunset47%
- Octwest38 min before the sea-level sunset44%
- Novsouth-west28 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Decsouth-west36 min before the sea-level sunset24%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Matka Canyon.
Canyon west of central Skopje, North Macedonia
Matka Canyon is a canyon rim in North Macedonia, 590 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 30 km away, looking north.
1 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Biljak (1,280 m), 29 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 85% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from July to August.
Get there and stay
- Matka Farm RV Camping Area, Matka, Nordmazedoniencampsite · 3.0 km · 4 within 10 km
- Маткаplace to stay · 1.1 km · 208 within 10 km
- Grčecnearest town · 5.9 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in GrčecBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Skopje International Airport (SKP)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 27 km in a straight lineCar hire at SKP airport (Ilinden)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, 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.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 5other viewpoints within 5 kmMatka canyon viewpoint near golden cross and 4 more
- 10named peaks within 5 kmРблак, Ситоица, Штрбина and 7 more
- 3marked trails within 3 kmПатека до Шишевски манастир, Словенска патека, Св. Недела
- 7shelters and huts within 5 km
- 4car parks within 3 km
- 5restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 4campsites within 10 kmMatka Farm RV Camping Area, Matka, Nordmazedonien, Camping Skopje, Grizzly Igloos and 1 more
- 208places to stay within 10 kmМатка, Планинарски дом Даре Џамбаз, Колективен Објект за Димување - Зградс and 205 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
- visitor centres within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Matka Canyon, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas21 mountains within 25 km
Forestyas1 forests and trees within 15 km
Canyonyas1 canyons within 20 km
Cavernyas2 caves within 20 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 km
Riveryasthe river nearbyFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Matka Canyon
North Macedonia
- 40Viewyas Score
- 30 kmFarthest ridge
- 1Peaks in view
- 590 mAltitude
Vodno
North Macedonia · 8 km
- 79Viewyas Score
- 170 kmFarthest ridge
- 126Peaks in view
- 1,059 mAltitude
Jakupica
North Macedonia · 28 km
- 81Viewyas Score
- 239 kmFarthest ridge
- 284Peaks in view
- 2,522 mAltitude
Skopska Crna Gora
Serbia · 27 km
- 80Viewyas Score
- 179 kmFarthest ridge
- 218Peaks in view
- 1,596 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q2278990) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Forestyas, Canyonyas, Cavernyas, Cascadyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit