19 springs and caves · down to 338 m · 2 suitable for an intro team
Cave diving in the Balkans
North MacedoniaSerbiaBosnia and HerzegovinaMontenegroAlbaniaBulgaria
- Springs and caves19
- Max depth338 m
- Water temperature7–12 °C
- Dive centres2
Diving and fills
Dive here with
Fills nearby
- CDC Vrelo (Matka)11 l air € 10 per fill, 11 l nitrox 50 € 20 per fill; helium € 0.12 and oxygen € 0.02 per litre (trimix possible). Price list 2026, source: the club — may change.
Why come here
In the Balkans you dive cold, clear spring water of 7–12 °C, in karst springs that the local clubs explored themselves. The best known is Vrelo in the Matka Canyon near Skopje: explored to -338 m in October 2026, the deepest known underwater cave in the world, and with the club you can dive it to about -45 m. In eastern Serbia shallow and deep springs lie close together, and around Mostar cave divers meet every year at the Balkan Cave Summit. Here you always plan through the local club, who sort out the way in, the lines and the gas.
Don't miss
- Vrelo (Matka): by boat across Lake Matka to the deepest explored underwater cave in the world, where you dive with the club against the current to about -45 m in ~12 °C water.
- Crno vrelo (Mostar): a flooded entrance in the Salakovac lake, daylight to ~-30 m and ~25 m visibility, then a chamber that drops to at least -90 m.
- Vrelo Crnog Timoka (Krivi Vir): a shallow cave of -1 to -5 m with air pockets under the ceiling and a single mainline of ~0.5 km, at the start of the gorge by Krivi Vir.
On a rest day
- Matka Canyon: The canyon near Skopje with the Matka reservoir: walk along the water or take a boat to the dry caves, with medieval monasteries on its banks.
- Stari Most in Mostar: The 16th-century Ottoman bridge over the Neretva, destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt, and the old town around it are on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
- Blagaj Tekke: The dervish house at the source of the Buna, below the cliff at Blagaj, a short drive from Mostar.
All 19 springs and caves
10 closed not shown ·
| Site | Max depth | Type | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bastašica (Drvar)Backmount · Full cave | 75 m | Backmount | Full cave |
| Crno vrelo (Mostar)Backmount · Full cave | 90 m | Backmount | Full cave |
| Izvor Klokota (Bihać)Permission neededNot known yet · Full cave | 104.5 m | Not known yet | Full cave |
| Krupajsko vrelo (Krupaje)Backmount · Full cave | 125 m | Backmount | Full cave |
| Mikovića pećina (Bar)Entry or dive feeNot known yet · Full cave | 9 m | Not known yet | Full cave |
| Vrelo (Matka)Backmount · Intro to cave | 338 m | Backmount | Intro to cave |
| Vrelo Bune (Blagaj)Permission neededBackmount · Full cave | – | Backmount | Full cave |
| Vrelo Crnog Timoka (Krivi Vir)Sidemount · Intro to cave | 13 m | Sidemount | Intro to cave |
| Vrelo Mlave (Žagubica)Backmount · Full cave | 90 m | Backmount | Full cave |
Certification requirements, configurations and trimix depths are estimates for planning. Always check them locally and dive within your training.
Map
Dive centres and fill stations
2 dive centres, fill stations and instructors
Una Aquarius (Bihać)
Loskun bb, 77000 Bihać
Agency for rafting and other adventures in Una National Park, with a camp at Loskun near Bihać. Also runs 'speed river diving' in the Una and cave dives in the area's flooded caves, with a chance to photograph the olm (Proteus anguinus); for certified, experienced divers only, in groups. Which caves, prices and what to bring: ask.
CDC Vrelo (Matka)
Matka, Skopje
11 l air € 10 per fill, 11 l nitrox 50 € 20 per fill; helium € 0.12 and oxygen € 0.02 per litre (trimix possible). Price list 2026, source: the club — may change.
For divers diving with the club; by arrangement
Guided dives: Vrelo (Matka)
Vrelo's cave diving club (Speleonurkački klub Vrelo), with permission from the Macedonian authorities to explore the cave; open circuit and CCR are welcome. A day of diving Vrelo guided by the club, with breakfast and coffee but without dive gear, costs per person € 150 for 1–3 divers, € 120 for 4–5 and € 90 for 6–10. Lunch with a drink € 10 pp; a night at the camp € 10 per person; renting a tent for 2 € 10 a night, without mattress, pillow, sleeping bag or bedding. Price list 2026, source: the club — may change.
Order: partners first, clearly marked as partner; then dive centres by distance from Mostar and independent instructors by name. Not a recommendation: check what they offer yourself.
On this list, or should you be? Get a free partner card →Where to stay
Find a place near Skopje, Despotovac, Žagubica, Mostar, Drvar, Risan, Bar, Gjirokastër, Lukovit
Villages that work well as a base for the caves in this region. Find a place for your team:
- SkopjeBooking.com ↗
- DespotovacBooking.com ↗
- ŽagubicaBooking.com ↗
- MostarBooking.com ↗
- DrvarBooking.com ↗
- RisanBooking.com ↗
- BarBooking.com ↗
- GjirokastërBooking.com ↗
- LukovitBooking.com ↗
The links to Booking.com are affiliate links: if you book through one, DiveTripPlanner earns a small commission. You pay the same.
Practical info: rules, fills and emergency numbers
Emergencies
- 112 (ambulance: North Macedonia and Serbia 194, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro 124, Albania 127). Hyperbaric chambers: Bulgaria at the VMA naval hospital in Varna (new chamber since Aug 2025); Montenegro in Meljine (Herceg Novi), but whether it still works is uncertain; otherwise Dubrovnik (Marin Med, +385 20 400 500). No chamber is known in Albania. For the other countries: ask the club before you dive. DAN Europe +39 06 4211 5685.
Access and rules
- Planning: most caves here were explored by clubs and you dive them with the local club, who know the way, the lines and the logistics. Local clubs: the Vrelo cave diving club (CDC Vrelo, Matka, MK), Ronilački klub Neretva (Mostar, BiH), Estavela (RS). Around Bihać (BiH) the agency Una Aquarius organises cave dives in the Una valley. In Bulgaria a small team explores with the caving clubs of the Bulgarian Federation of Speleology; a visitor only gets in through an expedition. The Mikovića cave near Bar (Montenegro) can be arranged through a dive centre in Bar.
Gas and fills
Water and season
- Water: cold, clear spring water of 7–12 °C (Vrelo ~12 °C, the springs in Serbia and Herzegovina 7–8 °C): drysuit. After heavy rain or snowmelt visibility drops in many springs.
Getting around
- Travel: the region spans several countries; count on long drives and border crossings. Mostar is the base for Herzegovina, Bihać for the Una valley, Skopje for Matka, Despotovac and Žagubica for the springs of eastern Serbia, Bar for the coast of Montenegro and Gjirokastër for Viroi.
Good to know
- Meeting up: every year the Balkan Cave Summit takes place in Mostar (in 2024 at the end of August), where cave divers from the region and beyond dive together; the club in Mostar is then the base camp.
News
News articles that mention one of the caves in this region, collected automatically and not checked by us.
Access and rules change: check what applies locally right before your trip. Source: GDELT Project and the news feeds of diving magazines.
Searched automatically, last on 5 Nov 2026.
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