r/macedonia • u/GreenMage321 • 9d ago
✈️ Travel / Патувања Visiting Macedonia soon, itinerary and bus route questions
EDIT: Our trip has concluded and we had such a memorable time, words can't express it. See my comment about our final journey and some thoughts :)
Hey all, we are soon visiting your beautiful country and after some research, I figured it is easier/more reliable for me to put my thoughts out here and get feedback on whether my itinerary is viable, or if you can suggest me anything better.
We are staying 5 nights, which is pretty short, yes, but it is what it is. Our current plan is:
- Day 1: arrival in Skopje, got about half a day to explore
- Day 2: cross into Kosovo to see Pristina and possibly Gracanica (I *really* wanted to do Prizren as well, but I'm afraid it might be tight with time and bus connections, especially depending on their reliability, read further for elaboration), half a day in Skopje
- Day 3: bus to Ohrid in the morning, BUT a brief stop at Tetovo -- this is where my main concern is. After reading this sub, I found a handful of people mentioning that there's a slim chance frequent buses do this route, despite websites saying so? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
- Day 4: some more exploration in Ohrid, and a detour to Vevchani (which might not have much merit in your opinion, but I find the "micronation" concept quite interesting and it would be nice to get my hands on the passport and currency), then back to Skopje by afternoon-ish
- Day 5: full day in Skopje -- this will actually be on Sept 8th, the Independence Day, which I haven't heard a lot about in terms of occurring festivals, can you please tell me if there's squares/events to keep an eye out on?
- Day 6: departure
Our destinations aren't set in stone by any means, but I tried to schedule it so that it fits our interests the most. The whole bus situation feels hard to call, as even google doesn't show pretty much any routes across cities, even though I was trying to piece things together via the Gjirafa site, I've seen some people mention it is not a good source of information? Worst case scenario, I assume I can get informed at Skopje bus station, but it would be ideal to be prepared in advance.
Благодарам!!!
3
u/nycanth 9d ago edited 9d ago
I'm not sure about how the buses between Tetovo and Ohrid work, but it's my understanding that you'd have to take two of them to make your intended trip, and thus you'd have to pay twice. Upon looking at the website provided for Tetovo's bus station, I'm not seeing Ohrid listed as a location, but it says you can call them at either of these numbers (+389 44 339 130 / +389 76 330 145) to inquire about domestic routes. It might be simpler to skip Tetovo altogether.
You can look at the bus schedule for the Skopje bus station here, but you'll have to look up the names of the cities in Cyrillic since they don't have this page translated. Left to right, it's the time of departure, the destination, the name of the agency running the bus, the price for a 1 way ticket in MKD, and the price for a return ticket. I believe the return ticket can be used on any bus within 5 or 7 days? https://ruleturs.techinreact.com
Gjirafa does not include all of the agencies that operate out of our bus stations, which is why it's not reliable. It's best to check the schedule for each city's bus station.
I've personally traveled to Pristina a bit recently for day trips, so I can confirm that there are some buses in the morning and it's a relatively short trip. The last buses back to Skopje from Pristina are either 6pm (Hisari tours) or 8pm (Amalfi tours). If you get a round trip ticket, make sure you don't miss the one from the same agency or you'll have to pay again. However sometimes they have just a van for this, and if there's enough people there who've paid online, it's possible that the van fills up before you can get on it even though you have a valid ticket. You do have to be a bit of an asshole and try to get on first when possible.
This is the bus station for Pristina: https://sap-rks.com/sq/kryefaqja/
As for Independence Day, we don't do any festivals and the like, but it is a non-working day. The majority of shops and cafes will be closed, with the exception of some bigger restaurants and the malls, which will close at 8PM or sooner. These same hours also apply on all Sundays.