In June 2025, I visited Kerkini Lake in North Macedonia (Greece) together with my mother.
This post serves as a source of inspiration for visiting Kerkini Lake for birdwatching. I only visited Lake Kerkini for a one-day trip, and thus I have not extensively explored the area. I relied on local experts to guide me on the lake on a private birdwatching boat trip. Here in this post I share some of my best shots from the day.
During the trip we did not stay overnight in the area surrounding Kerkini Lake. We were staying in an apartment in Thessaloniki and went to Kerkini Lake for a day trip.
Table of contents
- The boat trip on Kerkini Lake
- Birdwatching and bird photography
- The nature and landscape of Kerkini Lake national park
- Birding around the Lithopotos area
- How to get to Kerkini Lake
- Where to stay at Kerkini Lake
- Conclusion
It was a magical experience to sail on the lake, surrounded by numerous birds of different species. Albeit we only saw a small section of the area, it was an amazing time to see herons, grebes and ibises in breeding plumage.
The pelicans were plentiful. I had a short scare because I was unsure if the pelicans would even be at the lake at this time in June, but they were indeed inhabiting the lake in high numbers.
Besides the boat trip, we stopped at a few places around the lake at bird observation towers etc. Due to the heat of midday, and the time of year (summer), we didn’t see a high diversity of species.
The boat trip on Kerkini Lake
I had arranged a private boat trip for two hours on the lake, and we departed from the Kerkini port (West side of the lake). For birdwatching trips where you would like to do bird photography – I don’t recommend going with the cheaper 10 euro tourist boat from Lithotopos, but you can for sure also book a private trip from Lithopotos.
Online it is possible to contact and book a day trip to Kerkini Lake through various websites and travel companies. Some offer package deals with both driver (car driver) and boat trip, but if you wish to reach Kerkini Lake by other means, you can simply just book the boat trip itself. It was possible to book just 60 minutes, but it was possible to extend to 120 or even 180 minutes.
Birdwatching and bird photography
For the two hour birdwatching tour on the lake I had plenty of time to enjoy all the birds and take many photos. We sailed by thousands of great cormorants, admired the pelicans preening on their breeding platform, and sailed by the colonies from where egrets, herons and spoonbills were roosting.
For planning purposes
It is always good to rely on local experience if you want to have a high number of species, as they will know which places to prioritize. The bonus of visiting in the summer, where there may be fewer species, is that the birds are in their breeding plumage. That was certainly true for the spoonbills, squacco herons and whiskered terns.
The nature and landscape of Kerkini Lake national park
We stopped along the northern edge of Kerkini to enjoy the scenery and to see if other species of birds could be observed closer to shore. It was a beautiful view!
We drove from the port of Kerkini to the port of Mandraki and heard the great reed warblers singing in the dense and tall reed beds. There was a camper van parked and it looked like a very idyllic place for a rest.
Birding around the Lithopotos area
We went to Lithopotos to have lunch. It was early afternoon and already quite hot in June. It was very quiet, and only a small number of tourists were present. Most people at the lake that day were local school children.
From this observation tower pictured below, just north of Lithopotos, we didn’t see an exhilarating amount of birds. I got some great shots of this eastern olivaceous warbler!
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How to get to Kerkini Lake
It is the easiest to rent a car and drive yourself to Kerkini Lake.
To make the most of your time, and if birding is your primary reason for visiting the region, I recommend staying in one of the villages around Kerkini Lake.
It will make your stay more relaxed, if you don’t have to drive from Thessaloniki on a day trip. This is due to Thessaloniki being the second largest city of Greece, and the traffic being intense during certain times of the day.
If you are well experienced, this will be no problem for you.
There are also train connections from Thessaloniki to Mechalohori, with only one change of trains. The trains in this region, are a little bit unstable. People have been reluctant to use the train for years, due to a major train accident a few years ago, where several young people lost their lives.
In my opinion, taking the train is always safer than driving.
Where to stay at Kerkini Lake
There are several villages around Kerkini Lake. The three major villages are named Kerkini, Lithopothos and Megalochori. Lithopothos has the most options in regards to restaurants, but Kerkini also had some small businesses.
As mentioned at the top of this post, we stayed in Thessaloniki in an Airbnb.
Conclusion
Kerkini Lake is a wonderful place for birdwatching. Booking a tour guide for sailing on the lake is highly advisable, as they will know all the best places to visit. Self-guided driving around the lake is highly accessible and doable, once you have left Thessaloniki and the surrounding suburbs. There is public transportation (trains) from Thessaloniki to the northern villages of Kerkini Lake, but the reliance and lack of support by the locals probably affects the availability of trains. Staying in villages around the lakes is preferable, as you can easily spend many hours by car driving back and forth from Thessaloniki.
Combining the birdwatching trip with some historical/cultural sights of the area (North Macedonia), for example Meteora or Mount Olympus, may also add some valuable and exciting parts of your trip to the area. But these sights are only possible to visit for day trips, as they are not close to Kerkini Lake.
I hope you enjoyed the photos 🙂
© All photos are my own unless stated and may not be used without permission.
None of the mentioned products, experiences or places in this post were sponsored.
Traveling Female Ornithologist 