Bileća Lake
Description
Bilećko jezero is the largest artificial reservoir in the Balkans, located on the Trebišnjica River near Bileća in eastern Herzegovina. It was created in 1968 with the construction of the Grančarevo Dam, which is 123 m high and 439 m wide at the crest. The lake covers about 33 km², is 18 km long and 3–4 km wide, and reaches a maximum depth of 104 m. It lies at an altitude of about 400 m. Several villages were submerged at the bottom of the lake — Panik, Orah, Čepelica, Zadublje, and Miruše — along with roads, cemeteries, churches, and the Kosijerevo Monastery, which was moved to a new location.
This makes it especially attractive for divers exploring the underwater karst landscape and the remains of submerged settlements. The lake offers the well-kept Čepelica beach with a restaurant, beach volleyball, and a campsite on the Kuletina peninsula. It is rich in fish: catfish, carp, grass carp, pikeperch, and silver carp attract anglers from across the region.
The submerged world
Bilećko jezero hides a secret that few reservoirs in the Balkans share. On the bottom, at depths of up to 104 meters, entire villages sleep — Panik, Orah, Čepelica, Zadublje, and Miruše — submerged in 1968 to create the dam. Roads, cemeteries, churches, and the Kosijerevo monastery disappeared under water; the monastery was physically moved, but the other traces remained where they were.
Sports divers come precisely for that underwater setting: the clarity of the karst lake allows visibility of ten meters or more, and what can be seen on the bottom — houses, walls, karst relief — is unlike any other dive in the region.
What to do at Bilećko jezero?
