North Macedonia
Visa: North Macedonia is not part of the Schengen Area or the EU. Most Western passport holders (US, UK, EU, Australia, etc.) can enter visa-free for up to 90 days. Entry requirements
Currency: Macedonian Denar (MKD). Cash is essential — many small businesses, markets, and buses don't take cards. ATMs are widely available in Skopje and Ohrid. Exchange euros at banks or exchange offices for better rates than ATMs. Currency guide
Transportation: Buses connect all major towns; the Skopje–Ohrid route runs frequently and takes about 2 hours. Trains are limited (only 2 daily Skopje–Bitola services). Car rental gives you flexibility for places like Matka Canyon. Transport guide
Cross-border: Regular buses connect Skopje to Kosovo (Pristina, ~2h), Serbia (Belgrade), Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece. Book via Gjirafa Travel.
What To Expect
North Macedonia usually ends up in the middle of a Balkan itinerary just because it's geographically there, rarely making the top of anyone's bucket list—which, honestly, is the best thing about it.
The country splits itself between two completely opposite personalities. In the south, Lake Ohrid is a 3-million-year-old UNESCO treasure with water so clear you can spot the lake bed from the shore. Its old town tumbles down the hillside in a beautiful mix of Byzantine churches and Ottoman-style houses.
Then you head north to Skopje, a capital that has gone through two massive identity crises in just fifty years: first after a devastating 1963 earthquake, and again in the 2010s during a multi-million-dolar neoclassical makeover that dropped a colossal 20-meter statue of Alexander the Great right in the main square. It's weird, it's polarizing, but it absolutely grows on you.
It's cheap, compact, and still quiet enough that the best parts of your trip will feel totally unplanned.