Ski Kosovo

You can ski Kosovo, one of the world’s ‘newest’ countries – indeed still not recognised as an independent state by some, is home to the resort of Brezovica, located on the northwest slope of Mt. Shar, a major Kosovo ski resort in the region with 10 lifts and a big vertical. The resort is located in the southwest of the country.

Brezovica ‘s success has fluctuated over the years with the wider political tides. In good years it attracted 10,000 skiers and boarders a day from all ethnic backgrounds. Indeed in 2008 it was a major destination for skiers with an estimated 12,000 ethic Serbians living locally and others arriving from Serbia, but then the ethnic Albanian majority in the country/region declared independence and that flow of Serbian business reportedly died to a trickle and the slopes were closed for a period.

Prior to that the resort had suffered during the Balkan wars around 2000 and was closed for several seasons but over the years it has repeatedly proven that a mutual love of winter sports has overcome the differences between Serbians and Albanians, Christians and Moslems, for many. The most optimistic say that power outages leaving them occasionally stranded on the chairlift are a bigger problem than ethnic and political tensions.