Ski Adventure Serbia and Kosovo
In the center of the Balkans, a ski adventure Serbia and Kosovo awaits you. A crazy journey to two regions that have a love-hate relationship with each other. The trip begins in Skopje, the capital of northern Macedonia. In Serbia, we ski at the large Kopaonik ski resort.
Brezovica, adventure skiing
Brezovica, Brezovica in Albanian (Брезовица in Serbian) is Kosovo’s most popular ski resort. On nice days, the lines for the ski elevators can swell considerably and entire classes of sledding children are dropped in. Yet you see just as many good skiers and boarders here, as well as people who never seem to have had lats under their feet. The ski elevators run erratically, as you need at least a 4×4 for the route into the area, and the parking lot only caters to about fifty cars (creative parking at best). Oh well, a little adventurer knows how to handle this and the rewards are great. In fact, we had one of the most beautiful descents of the entire trip here.
In short
- Top elevator at 2499 m
- Bottom elevator at 1717 m
- Vertical drop of 782 m
- Lunch: Delicious burgers with sauces and extra onion in fresh flatbread baked on site.
In the long
In 1984, Brezovica was set up as an alternative to the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Despite this (and despite several international competitions and events in the 1980s and 1990s), there has been bitterly little investment in infrastructure for more than two decades (witness the prehistoric ski elevator in the photo gallery above). And during the 1998 – 1999 war, the area was closed. New investment seemed within reach in 2014 with a contract between Brezovica and France’s Compagnie des Alpes, but it was called off in 2016. Plenty of room for improvement, then.
The plan in ski resort Brezovica
Brezovica is a special place for the average Dutchman or Belgian. On quiet days, you pay your ski pass per ride to a Russian-looking gentleman, who sips gingerly from his hip flask. Then spend about fifteen minutes on a gently rocking ski lift en route to the top. But once at the top, it’s time for what we came for. Brezovica has much to offer for those who know where to look. And we are fortunate to be able to follow local guides.
The guide takes us to vast open snowfields, tree runs where you have to turn and turn very quickly (trees always win), tree runs with new, small trees to jump over, and a few steeper sections below the elevator. And at the end of the day, if there is enough snow, we make one of the most beautiful runs on the other side of the mountain, all the way to where the car is parked.
Interested in more (ski) areas in Kosovo? Then check out the Bogë and Rugova Canyon areas!