The Šar Mountains (Serbian and Macedonian: Шар Планина, Šar Planina; colloquially also Шара, Šara) or Sharr Mountains (Malet e Sharrit) is a mountain range extending from southern Kosovo to northwestern North Macedonia. The sections in Kosovo, and in Šar Mountains National Park (North Macedonia) are national parks. Rugged and barren, the mountains are among the highest on the Balkans, with 30 peaks higher than .
In antiquity, the mountains were known as Scardus, Scodrus, or Scordus (το Σκάρδον ὂρος in Polybius and Ptolemy), which evolved into the modern name – "Sharr/Šar" – through sound development characteristic to the Albanian language from "Scardus".
In the early 16th century, it was recorded that the mountain was called "Catena Mundi" (Latin for "the chains of the world").
Sometimes the range is called "Carska Planina" (, "Tsar's Mountain"), as a reference to the capitals (Prizren and Skopje), courts (Nerodimlje, Pauni, Svrčin, etc.) and monasteries (monastery of the Holy Archangels) of the Serbian Empire located in the region. In the medieval period, Serbs called the mountain "Mlečni" (), because of the major milk production on the mountain and the vast herds of cattle, goats and sheep. In the golden bull issued by Emperor Dušan on 20 September 1349, he says: "I also bequest all of mine estates and areas around the Mlečni Mountain ("Milk Mountain"), the Durlev estates and all the metochions and all the wealth and treasure of that region". The bull is kept in the Dubrovnik Archive.
The mountain borders extend from the city of Prizren, following the two rivers of the Lumbardhi i Prizrenit and the Lepenac. In the east it passes by the town of Kaçanik through the Kaçanik Gorge and into North Macedonia via the Polog valley. The border passes near the Vardar spring called Vrutok and enters near the valley of Mavrovo. There the Radika river separates the mountain massif from the higher Mount Korab. After that, the border is mounting, reaching the point of junction of three state borders: Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania.