A country · 55 places · 18 regions

North Macedonia, all of it.

55 curated places across 18 regions — photographed, mapped, and noted with the season each is best in.

Lake Ohrid · via Wikimedia Commons

The 4 biggest regions — Skopje Statistical Region, Ohrid Municipality, Bitola Municipality and Mavrovo i Rostuše Municipality — read below as chapters, with 14 more waiting past them.

Chapter I · Skopje Statistical Region · 19 places

Skopje Statistical Region

Skopje is the capital of North Macedonia, a city rebuilt in a neoclassical style following the catastrophic 1963 earthquake that destroyed much of the previous urban fabric. The Stone Bridge across the Vardar River connects the old Ottoman bazaar district Čaršija — one of the largest bazaars in the Balkans outside Istanbul — to the modern city centre. The city's recent large-scale urban redevelopment, with neoclassical monuments and statues erected from 2010 onward, has given it a striking and contested visual identity.

Skopje

Skopje Statistical Region, North Macedonia

✦ April to October · $

Stone Bridge, Skopje

Skopje Statistical Region, North Macedonia

✦ Year-round · $

Mother Teresa Memorial House

Skopje Statistical Region, North Macedonia

✦ Year-round · $

All 19 places in Skopje Statistical Region →

via Wikimedia Commons

Chapter II · Ohrid Municipality · 5 places

Ohrid Municipality

The old town of Ohrid on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid is one of the most historically significant urban centres in the Balkans, with over 365 churches recorded at various periods, earning it the informal designation of the Jerusalem of the Balkans. The Church of St. John the Theologian at Kaneo, perched on a cliff directly above the lake, is among the most reproduced images in North Macedonian tourism. Samuel's Fortress on the hilltop preserves extensive Byzantine-era walls with panoramic views over the lake and Albania.

✦ May to September · $

Meet Ohrid All 5 places in Ohrid Municipality →

Chapter III · Bitola Municipality · 3 places

Bitola Municipality

Pelister National Park protects the Baba mountain massif in the southwest of North Macedonia, dominated by Pelister Peak at 2,601 metres, the fifth highest point in the country. The park is notable for its stands of Molika pine, a Balkan endemic five-needled species, and for two high-altitude glacial lakes known as the Pelister Eyes. Hiking routes from the mountain hut network reach the summit ridge where views extend across the Bitola plain toward Greece.

Pelister National Park

Bitola Municipality, North Macedonia

✦ June to September · $

Bitola

Bitola Municipality, North Macedonia

✦ April to October · $

Heraclea Lyncestis

Bitola Municipality, North Macedonia

✦ April to October · $

All 3 places in Bitola Municipality →

via Wikimedia Commons

Chapter IV · Mavrovo i Rostuše Municipality · 2 places

Mavrovo i Rostuše Municipality

A high mountain village in the Bistra range above Mavrovo, built of stone houses stacked in a natural amphitheatre. Once a wealthy herding settlement, it is famed for its summer traditional wedding festival.

Meet Galičnik All 2 places in Mavrovo i Rostuše Municipality →