Greece · Central Macedonia

Lake Pikrolimni

Directions

Λίμνη Πικρολίμνη

Pikrolimni, the Bitter Lake, is an alkaline salt lake without an outlet, on the border of the Kilkis and Thessaloniki regional units, about 40 km north-west of Thessaloniki. It is described as the only salt lake in Greece. Its average depth is well under a metre, and the villages of Mikrokampos, Nea Filadelfeia and Pikrolimni lie around it.

How it formed

The water, about five times saltier than the Mediterranean, comes almost entirely from rain and snowmelt, and takes up its salts as it seeps through volcanic and sedimentary rocks warmed from below. The lake shrinks by evaporation every summer and fills again in winter. Earthquakes in the 1960s and 1970s reduced it by 150–200 m in length and width, and it has been slowly recovering.

History

In antiquity it was called Chalastra and was a major source of natron, a salt used as a flux in Greek and Roman glassmaking. Plato mentioned it and Pliny the Elder praised its quality. Extraction probably ended around the 9th century.

Nature

Reed beds and salt-loving plants surround the lake, a Natura 2000 and Ramsar site. More than 47 bird species are listed, among them greater flamingos, Dalmatian pelicans, great crested and little grebes, curlews, merlins and short-toed eagles. Foxes, weasels, water snakes, tree frogs and the endangered European ground squirrel also live here.

Visit

Swimming

No reliable information

Tips

The lake is about 25 km south of Kilkis and easy to reach, for a day trip or a short stay in any season. People come for bird watching, gentle walks and photography.

A spa on the south-east shore offers mud treatments with the lake’s black mud. The Folklore Museum of Mikrokampos is nearby.