Skopje is the capital of the land-locked country of Macedonia and though it is officially the Republic of North Macedonia, locals prefer just Macedonia. The name change didn't happen until 2019 and was the result of a dispute with Greece and most Macedonians weren't happy about it. So when you are there, I recommend just referring to it as Macedonia. This country is known for the ancient cities of Skopje and Ohrid as well as its beautiful mountain terrain. Full of rich history, friendly people and picturesque mountains, Macedonia should definitely be on your list of must see countries in the Balkans.

Where we stayed, sites we saw and helpful tips for Skopje, Macedonia

Matka Canyon

Matka Canyon is located west of Skopje and is one of the most popular outdoor destinations in Macedonia. The canyon has several medieval monasteries, ten caves, and has a wide variety of plants with around 20% being endemic. The natural beauty and many attractions make it a must see when you are visiting Skopje.

To get there we took bus 25 to the Millennium Cross cable car. The bus is pretty easy and you can either buy a bus card at the station or download the Android app HERE (it's what we did) and buy tickets as needed. The bus cost 30 DEN PP ( $.60 USD) Once we arrived it was a short walk to the cable car that cost 50 DEN PP one way ($1.00). You can purchase tickets when you get there and you can pay in denars or with a credit card. The ride was about 5 minutes, gaining 500 m (1,640 ft). The view was spectacular and if you only have time for the ride it's well worth the bus trip! Once at the top we hiked about 8 miles (13km) west along the ridge and eventually to the bottom of the canyon. The first 4.5 miles (7.3km) were on a pretty nice trail beginning on a dirt road then changing to singletrack trail. The next few miles down to the church were pretty steep and sometimes loose. The church was closed when we were there, but there were spectacular views, as well as water and picnic tables. We took the longer trail from the monastery down towards to damn and this section was in great condition and not steep at all. Once down in the canyon we headed up the river past the dam where they have boat rentals and rides. We opted for the short group ride for 200 DEN PP ($4.00 USD) . The water in the canyon was the most beautiful green color! And the cliffs of the canyon walls were breathtaking. I would definitely go back the next time we are in the area. While we were there, there was a lot of wildfire smoke that was worse at the canyon rim. We almost considered turning around, though I'm glad we didn't because surprisingly, the smoke lessened as we descended into the canyon. As we were leaving we watched the last bus for two hours drive away. So definitely check the schedule if you’re relying on the buses as this particular route runs infrequently. Fortunately, we weren’t alone and ended up splitting a taxi with another couple to the next town and caught a bus home from there. There are also a lot of tours to the canyon and you can find them in the Old Bazaar.

Monastery of Saint Nikola Shishevo

Canoers in Matka Canyon

Must see markets in Skopje, Macedonia

Old Bazaar “Turkish Bazaar”: Of course this is a must see Bazaar! The Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest markets with the earliest mention of it in the 12th century. This place really does have everything you could ever need and some things you didn't know you needed! There are mosques, churches, restaurants, cafes, more gold jewellery shops than I've ever seen, clothing stores, a produce market and plenty of places to buy souvenirs! If you are looking to shop this is the place to be and I honestly think you could spend several days just exploring this area. Even if you are not looking to shop, the beautiful cobble stone streets with both Ottoman and Byzantine architecture is worth an afternoon!

Green Market Skopje: The Green Market is a large outdoor market that is close to where we stayed. Unlike the famous Old Bazaar, this felt like a place made just for locals. You can find anything you need here, from produce to kitchenware to clothing, they have it all. Everyone was very welcoming to us and seemed excited to meet tourists. I highly recommend getting some delicious olives.

Must see sights in Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje Fortress: This 6th century historical fortress is free to enter and offers an amazing panoramic view of the city. At one point it looked like there was a museum and exhibits but everything was closed down (looked permanent) with do not enter signs keeping you from even getting close. You can still walk though the complex and climb on the walls and towers to see an amazing view of the city!

Archbishop Cathedral St. Clement of Ohrid: This beautiful Cathedral is architecturally stunning both inside and out. This is an Orthodox cathedral officially known as the “Cathedral Church of St. Clement”. It is located near Macedonia Square making it easy to walk to. The cathedral was completed in the 1990’s and its most notable feature is the large central dome surrounded by several smaller domes all covered in green copper. The inside is done in the traditional orthodox style, featuring many frescoes and icons.

Macedonia Square: Located in the center of the city, it is the largest in Macedonia at 18,500 m². Here you will find many restaurants, cafes and shops, as well as some street performers and some of the over 284 (or so I hear) statues including the largest one of Alexander the Great on his loyal steed Bucephalus. Nearby is the 15th century Stone Bridge that crosses the Vardar river that will take you to the Old Bazaar. Our apartment was located 1 minute from here making it a prime location.

Mother Theresa Memorial House: Mother Theresa was born in Skopje and lived there from 1910 to 1928. The museum was built to honor the Catholic saint and Nobel Prize winner. It is free to enter and it is located a minute walk from Macedonia Square

Tsar Samoil fist Bulgarian Empire

Alexander the Great on his loyal steed

Church of Sts. Constantine and Hekena: This Macedonian Orthodox Church was unfortunately still undergoing its nearly 13 year build. Though luckily for you, as of October 2025 the construction is completed! Even though we couldn't go inside the construction was almost completed and we could see how beautiful it was going to be. It is conveniently located next to the Mother Teresa house and only a minute from Macedonia Square.

Don's favorite painting

Tako Mako

Tako Mako cafe: This quickly became my favorite cafe! They have the best Trileçe ( three milks cake) I've ever had! I went back for a piece everyday. Don also had the sutlijaç (rice pudding) he said it reminded him of a Spanish rice pudding without the cinnamon and he really enjoyed it. The tea and espresso we had there were also tasty. But what really made this place for us were the brothers who owned it. They were so welcoming and made you feel like family instantly. It was this hospitality that had us going back everyday.

Trileçe

Sutlijaç

Tako Mako Handmade Silver Jewelry: This jewellery store is also owned by the same brothers as the cafe and located right across the alley. It's from them we learned about the Macedonian ruby, a semi-precious stone found only in one mine here in Macedonia. They hand make all the silver filigree jewelry and have for generations. The prices are also extremely reasonable and paying in cash can get you an even better deal. I purchased a Macedonian ruby pendant from them and I have received so many compliments! It's location in the Old Bazaar makes it a perfect stop to recharge during your site seeing and shopping!

Diamond Mall

Diamond Mall: We arrived in Skopje on September 8th, which is their Independence Day, so a lot of stores were closed, but the mall was open! They have a wide variety of stores including a well stocked grocery store called Vero Market. We were able to get everything we needed for the night. You need to take your produce to a counter and have it weighed by a clerk before heading to check out, at some locations you can weigh it yourself. The scale has pictures, making it more user friendly. We headed up to the food court for some dinner and decided to try Burger King. Honestly, the food was just like the USA, I had a chicken sandwich with a small fry and drink and Don had a burger with a small fry and a drink and the total was 550 DEN ($10.50 USD)

Where we stayed in Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje Apartment Luxury: We stayed here for 4 nights which cost us 7,400 DEN ($141 USD). This place was a lot bigger than we had realized, though had we read everything the description did say 699ft². As we settled in, the smell of the air fresheners became overwhelming so we put them outside, then we realized why they were there. The apartment had a mothball and musty odor, but we preferred that to the air fresheners. I did like this apartment. It was very clean, a great value, in the heart of downtown and the owner was really helpful. Then things started to break, it honestly became comical. First the key fob didn't work to get in the building, no problem we had a code. Then the tea kettle wasn't working, no problem the owner brought us a new one. Next a piece of the key broke off as a splinter into Don's finger, thankfully I have tweezers. After that the washing machine stopped working but thankfully Don got it working again. Next I decided to take a bath and found out why they didn't include a tub stopper (nothing said we couldn't use the tub) as water started pouring out from underneath. Apparently the drain wasn’t hooked up too well. Then a kitchen chair broke, no problem, it was an extra. 😬 So after all that, would I stay here again? Yeah, the owner was very responsive and the space and location were fantastic.

Busses in Skopje, Macedonia

You can either buy a bus card and load that at the station or you can download the app HERE (or directly from the Google Play store HERE) and add tickets on your phone. We opted to do the app. The bus routes are pretty easy to understand, though we found the times to be wrong on both Google and in the app. Also neither showed all available buses so we would just ask locals or the bus driver if the bus was going where we needed. The buses are a mix of old and new and if you're lucky you may get to ride on the old school double decker, and if you're really lucky you can get a seat up top in the front row!

Helpful tips for Skopje, Macedonia

ATM: We found a free ATM HERE, it was right outside our apartment near Macedonian Square. It was a Bankomat ATM. It is only free if your bank doesn't charge fees and you must select the local currency.

Language: The official language is Macedonian which is an Eastern South Slavic language related to Bulgarian. Albanian is the co-official language is a spoken by a large minority as well. We did find a lot of people spoke English in Skopje and even those who didn't were happy to work with us in Google Translate. I recommend always downloading the offline version.

Sim Cards: We purchased two prepaid sim cards from MTEL that were good for 14 days and had 14GB of data. The processes was easy and the store we used was located right next to Macedonia Square. The cost is 250DEN each ($4.78USD)

Is Skopje pedestrian friendly? Absolutely! There are sidewalks and crosswalks that will take you anywhere you want to go and also a number of European style pedestrian only streets!

Busses: Besides walking, Busses are the way we got around. They are both affordable and plentiful. I recommend downloading the APP so you can buy tickets as needed. I will say that the schedule on both Google Maps and the App seemed to have the times wrong so make sure you leave yourself plenty of wiggle room to get to where you need to go if you use the bus for things with a set time.

Is the tap water safe to drink? Yes, though there were a lot of minerals in it, so I bought bottled water and used the tap mainly for tea and coffee. I always recommend reaching out to your host as thing can vary from building to building.

Visas for U.S. citizens: U.S. citizens do not need a visa as of 2025 for stays under 90 days. You must have a passport valid for at least 6 months beyond your entry date.

Direstions: We used google maps for both walking and taking the bus. The bus direction were pretty accurate thought the app had more options. I recommend downloading the offline maps.

Border crossing between Serbia & Macedonia

Crossing the border between Serbia and North Macedonia was really easy and quick. We left all our luggage on the bus and got in a line to show border control our passports, no questions or stamps, then after everyone was done we got back on the bus and entered Macedonia, no customs.

How we got to Skopje, Macedonian from Niš, Serbia

We took the Niš Ekspres but booked the tickets through Flixbus, you can also book directly through Nis Ekspres but Flixbus has a better English interface. The cost is about $24 USD PP with an additional $1 USD for a platform ticket that you buy when you arrive at the station here. You can pay both cash and card for the platform tickets. There is a bathroom within the platform, but it costs 50 RSD if you select Serbian or 100 RSD if you select English on the machine outside the bathrooms. The machine only accepts 50 and 100 RSD bills. It takes a second for the ticket to print, then you scan the barcode (not the QR code) at the turnstile.

Our bus was located in bay 6 and was on time and clean. The seats are comfortable but the wifi didn't work and there are no bathrooms. The bus stopped twice and about an hour and a half after departing we stopped for a bathroom break. Toilets (squatty potty) cost 30RSD and the attendant had change for my 50 RSD.

Check out Don's YouTube Video on Macedonia

HERE

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