Vardar has a truly composite river valley due to the settling of ravines and valleys one after another along its course. It’s spring is in Vrutok, a few kilometres southwest of Gostivar in the north-western part of the Republic of Macedonia. Today Vrutok, as a tourist attraction, represents a modern rural settlement with huge potential for eco tourism. It continues to flow through the city of Gostivar and the Polog valley where several tributaries flow: Lakavica, Mazdraca, Pena, Bistrica, Rakita. Then, through the Derven ravine, it enters the Skopje valley where it receives water from Lepenec, Treska, Pchinja and Markova Reka and passes through Skopje.
Passing through the Taor ravine, where the river Kadina flows, it enters the small Veles valley and passes through Veles. Here flow the rivers Topolka and Babuna. Then, through the Veles ravine, it enters the Tikvesh valley, where two of its biggest tributaries flow- the River Crna from the right and Bregalnica from the left. It enters the famous Demir Kapija ravine, and through it in the Gevgelija-Valandovo valley where it crosses the Greek border, passes through the Ciganska (Gipsy) ravine. Running through the Thessaloniki field it flows into the Aegean Sea to the west of Thessaloniki in Aegean Macedonia.