North Macedonia
Adrift on Lake Prespa, Golem Grad was once the king's summer playground but is now home to wild tortoises, cormorants and pelicans, and perhaps a few…
Must-see attractions in North Macedonia
Lake Ohrid
Sveti Naum, 29km south of Ohrid, is an imposing sight on a bluff near the Albanian border and a popular day trip from Ohrid. Naum was a contemporary of St…
North Macedonia
This 1974 monument, commemorating the Ilinden Uprising from 1903, is a marvel of Yugoslav architecture and a fantastic example of abstract historic…
Sveti Jovan Bigorski Monastery
Mavrovo National Park
This revered 1020 Byzantine monastery is located, fittingly, up in the gods along a track of switchbacks off the Debar road, close to Janče village…
Skopje
Dominating the skyline of Skopje, this Game of Thrones–worthy, 6th-century AD Byzantine (and later, Ottoman) fortress is an easy walk up from the Čaršija…
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North Macedonia
A Bronze Age, archaeo-astronomical site, this megalithic observatory sits atop a volcanic hill, at an elevation of 1013m; it's a truly marvellous place…
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North Macedonia
Located 1km south of central Bitola, Heraclea Lyncestis is among North Macedonia's best archaeological sites, though the neglected state of the on-site…
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North Macedonia
The 13th-century Treskavec Monastery rises from Mt Zlato (1422m), a bare massif replete with imposing twisted rock formations. One doesn't know which is…
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North Macedonia
This magnificent monument to Prilep's Partisan soldiers who died in WWII is the 1961 work of one of the former Yugoslavia's most brilliant architects,…
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Ohrid
Skimming the surface of the water along Ohrid's shore, snaking towards Kaneo fishing village and the town's most famous church, this over-water boardwalk…
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North Macedonia
Tetovo's beautiful Painted Mosque is like something out of the Arabian Tales and quite unique in the Balkans. First built in the 15th century, it was…
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North Macedonia
Framed by mountains and with a serene, peaceful atmosphere, Sveta Bogorodica is a special spot. Still home to nuns, this working monastery has 18th…
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Skopje
The Daut Paša Amam (1473) were once the largest Turkish baths outside of İstanbul and they make a magical setting for the permanent collection of Skopje's…
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Skopje
Čaršija is Skopje's hillside Ottoman old town, evoking the city's past with its winding lanes filled with teahouses, mosques, craftspeople's shops, and…
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Church of Sveti Jovan at Kaneo
Ohrid
This stunning 13th-century church is set on a cliff over the lake, about a 15-minute walk west of Ohrid's port area, and is possibly North Macedonia's…
Skopje
Partially submerged 2m underground (the Ottomans banned churches from being taller than mosques), this church dates from the 14th century and is the most…
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Lake Ohrid
Keeping one sleepy eye on Lake Ohrid from its mountain perch, Vevčani dates to the 9th century and is a quiet rural settlement beloved by locals for its…
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North Macedonia
Some 26km northwest of Prilep, towards Makedonski Brod, the 14th-century Zrze Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration rises like a revelation from a…
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Memorial House of Mother Teresa
Skopje
This extraordinary retro-futuristic memorial is the most unique church you'll see in North Macedonia. Inside the building there's a small 1st-floor museum…
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Museum on Water – Bay of Bones
Lake Ohrid
In prehistoric times Lake Ohrid was home to a settlement of pile dwellers who lived literally on top of the water, on a platform supported by up to 10,000…
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North Macedonia
Although the location was discovered in 1861, it wasn't until Germans unearthed the first remnants of the Roman city of Stobi while digging trenches in…
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North Macedonia
Propping up the base of Pelister, just 5km from Bitola, the 830m-high mountainside hamlet of Dihovo is a charming spot, surrounded by thick pine forests…
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Mavrovo National Park
Just a blip on the map, the small village of Janče is one of the few places in Mavrovo (besides the ski resort) where it's possible to get decent…
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Ohrid
Saluting the lake from Ohrid's hilltop, Plaošnik is home to the multidomed medieval Church of Sveti Kliment i Pantelejmon, the foundations of a 5th…
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North Macedonia
Cradled by the foothills on the western edge of Pelister, little Brajčino's lungs are fit to bursting with fresh mountain air, making it a thoroughly…
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North Macedonia
Natural erosion and its varying effects on the area's volcanic rocks are behind the formation of these bizarre 'rock dolls', which are estimated to be…
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Skopje
Sitting inside a concrete brutalist structure – awful to some, fascinating to others – the museum's solid historical and ethnological displays are housed…
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North Macedonia
Framing Skopje to the south, Vodno's towering mass – pinpointed by the 66m Millennium Cross – is an enduring symbol of the city. A popular (shaded) hiking…
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North Macedonia
Bitola's Stara Čaršija boasted about 3000 clustered artisans' shops in Ottoman times; today, only about 70 different trades are conducted, but it's still…
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North Macedonia
Prespa is separated from its sister lake, Ohrid, by Galičica National Park and a road crosses the ridge of the park, linking the two. Prespa's mirrorlike…
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Archaeological Museum of Macedonia
Skopje
This supersized pile of Italianate-styled marble has been a giant receptacle for Skopje's recent splurge on government-led monuments to boost national…
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Skopje
Occupying the old train station building where the stone fingers of the clock remain frozen in time at 5.17am – the moment Skopje's devastating earthquake…
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North Macedonia
A team of scuba divers from Italy and Belgium have explored Matka's underwater caverns to a depth of 212m and still not found the bottom, making these…
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Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia
Skopje
The mirrored-glass entrance is bizarrely unwelcoming, but once inside this is a moving museum with fascinating displays that commemorate the all-but-lost…
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North Macedonia
Bitola's 16th-century Yeni Mosque and 17th-century stone clock tower sit at the top of Širok Sokak, Bitola's main pedestrianised thoroughfare, before the…
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Skopje
This gigantic square is the centrepiece of Skopje's audacious nation-building-through-architecture project and it has massive statues dedicated to…
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Sveta Bogorodica Bolnička & Sveti Nikola Bolnički
Ohrid
Bolnica means 'hospital' in Macedonian; during plagues visitors faced 40-day quarantines inside the walled confines of these petite churches, which are…
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Mavrovo National Park
Up a winding, tree-lined road ending in a rocky moonscape 17km southwest of Mavrovo, almost depopulated Galičnik features traditional houses along the…
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Museum of the Macedonian Struggle for Statehood & Independence
Skopje
Part history museum, part national propaganda machine, this is a formidable memorial to North Macedonia's past occupation, land struggles and…
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Lake Ohrid
Cupped between a sloping hill and a tranquil bay, Ohrid's last traditional fishing village features clustered houses with terracotta roofs and a white…
