Lake Batllava, Pristina's water among the hills

Look at a map of the country around Pristina and you’ll spot two blue patches to the east. The small one is Badoc, tucked against Germia Park. The bigger one is Batllava, a little further out among the hills, and after the two giants in the west and north it’s the largest entry in the statistics agency’s table of lakes.

A reservoir with a proper job

Batllava isn’t a natural bathing lake but part of the capital’s water supply. In its company profile, KRU Prishtina explains that the city first drank from the Germia springs and the wells at Kolovicë, began using the Badoc reservoir in 1961 and, in the late 1970s, with the city growing fast, added Batllava. The lake’s raw water is treated at the Albanik plant in Shajkovc before it reaches anyone’s tap.

The reservoir has a dam, and keeping it sound is no small matter. In March 2023 KRU Prishtina’s management met the mayor of Podujeva to discuss the dam’s safety, inspection, structure and seismic risk. That same month the company reported that Batllava was at the maximum spillway level.

Where it is and how it fits a trip

The statistics agency gives the lake an area of 3.27 km². OpenStreetMap draws it about 21 km north-east of central Pristina as the crow flies, split between two municipalities, Pristina and Podujeva. Batllavë, the village that gives it its name, belongs to Podujeva and had 2,056 residents in 2024; on the Pristina side, the settlement of Ballaban counted barely 50.

For me it works as a half-day outing from the capital, on its own or combined with Podujeva, about 15 km away. The photo at the top, from Wikimedia Commons, shows a wooden jetty, but no official source tells me who runs it or whether boats are for hire, so I won’t promise you one.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Pristina before prices climb.

Can you swim?

It’s the question everyone asks, and I don’t have an official answer. Neither KRU Prishtina nor the Environmental Protection Agency, in what I’ve read, publishes rules on recreational use of the lake. So my advice is cautious. Walk, take photos, bring a picnic and, before getting wet, look for a sign or ask in the village. A drinking-water reservoir usually comes with restrictions, even if I haven’t seen them written down.

If lakes are your thing

Batllava can’t compete with the big ones, but it rounds off a tour of Kosovo’s lakes nicely. Lake Gazivoda, in the north, is almost three times its size, and Badoc, the capital’s other reservoir, sits right by Germia Park and the bear sanctuary. If you’ve only got time for one near Pristina, I’d pick Batllava for its more open landscape and save Badoc to pair with the bears on the same morning. The whole area is summed up on my Pristina region page.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Lake Batllava and choose by the reviews.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Pristina before prices climb.