Sights · Our pick
Bay of Bones
Prehistoric pile dwellings
A prehistoric village on wooden piles, rebuilt over the lake about 15 km south of Ohrid.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © ZLatko Menkinoski · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © BrankaVV · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © A. Kerim ŞENGEL · CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons1 / 3
About Bay of Bones
In the Bay of Bones, off the Gradište peninsula near Peštani, underwater archaeologists found the remains of a prehistoric pile-dwelling village from the late Bronze and early Iron Ages: some 6,000 wooden piles at depths of three to five metres that once held a shared platform with around twenty houses. Part of the village was rebuilt over the water in 2007–08, and today the Museum on Water lets you step onto it. On the hilltop above stands a conserved Roman fort. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, with longer hours from May to September.
Our take
- Pile dwellings
- Museum over the water
- Roman fort above
- Address
- Gradište, the Balkans
- Our city guide
- On our Skopje guide
- Price guide
- € (sights price guide)
- Opening hours
- Tue–Sun 09:00–16:30 May–Sep; 09:00–15:30 Oct–Apr; closed Mon
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Bay of Bones before you go.
Last checked: October 2026 How we choose
Location
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