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North Macedonia

Part Balkan, part Mediterranean and rich in Greek, Roman and Ottoman heritage, North Macedonia has a fascinating past and a complex national identity.

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Experience the real

　　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, Bogdan Bogdanović, who specialised in mixing up the historical with the antic and celestial. The eight marble monoliths, each between 3m and 5m tall, depict what...

Must-see attractions

Sveti Naum Monastery

North Macedonia

　　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 Kliment, and their monastery an educational centre. The iconostasis inside the church dates to 1711 and the frescoes to the...

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 ghosts. A settlement endured here from the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD and during medieval times there was a monastery complex....

National Workshop for Handmade Paper

　　Here's a slightly random fact for you: Ohrid has been printing paper since the 16th century and this museum-cum-shop has one of only two copies of the Gutenberg Press in the world. Staff are on hand to give a demonstration of the paper-making process (in excellent English), and the teeny...

Sveta Sofija Cathedral

　　Ohrid's grandest church, 11th-century Sveta Sofija is supported by columns and decorated with elaborate, if very faded, Byzantine frescoes, though they are still well preserved and very vivid in the apse. Its superb acoustics mean it's often used for concerts. To one side of the church there's a peaceful, manicured...

Church of Sveta Bogorodica Perivlepta

　　Just inside the Gorna Porta, this 13th-century Byzantine church, whose name translates as 'Our Lady the Most Glorious', has vivid biblical frescoes (newly restored in 2017) painted by masters Michael and Eutychius, and superb lake and Old Town views from its terrace. There's also an icon gallery highlighting the founders'...

National Museum

　　Ohrid's National Museum is housed over three floors of this remarkably well-preserved Old Town house, which dates from 1863 and was once owned by the Robev family of merchants. The creaking timbered building has just been renovated; on the top two floors displays include Roman archaeological finds, a 5th-century golden...

Sveta Bogorodica Bolnička & Sveti Nikola Bolnički

　　Bolnica means 'hospital' in Macedonian; during plagues visitors faced 40-day quarantines inside the walled confines of these petite churches, which are thought to date to the 14th century. Sandwiched between Car Samoil and Kosta Abraš in the heart of the Old Town, the churches have somewhat irregular opening hours, but...

　　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-century basilica and a garden of intricate early Christian flora-and-fauna mosaics. The central church was restored in 2002; though it lacks the ancient wall frescoes of many...

Church of Sveti Jovan at Kaneo

　　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 most photographed structure. Peer down into the azure waters and you'll see why medieval monks found spiritual inspiration here. The small church has original...

Ohrid Boardwalk & City Beach

　　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 takes you to a beautiful outcrop of rocky beaches and a handful of small restaurants and bars. On a hot day the area is thronged by bathers,...

Ploštad Makedonija

　　This gigantic square is the centrepiece of Skopje's audacious nation-building-through-architecture project and it has massive statues dedicated to national heroes, as well as an incongruous Triumphal Arch in the southeast corner. The towering, central warrior on a horse – Alexander the Great – is bedecked by fountains that are illuminated...

Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia

　　The mirrored-glass entrance is bizarrely unwelcoming, but once inside this is a moving museum with fascinating displays that commemorate the all-but-lost Sephardic Jewish culture of North Macedonia through a range of photos, English-language wall texts, maps and video. The exhibition documents the Jewish community's history in the Balkans, ending in...

Museum of Macedonia

　　Sitting inside a concrete brutalist structure – awful to some, fascinating to others – the museum's solid historical and ethnological displays are housed in a sorry state. The museum hosts North Macedonia's biggest ethnographic collection; the display of traditional architecture and the room stuffed with original wood-carved iconostases are highlights....

Sveti Spas Church

　　Partially submerged 2m underground (the Ottomans banned churches from being taller than mosques), this church dates from the 14th century and is the most historically important in Skopje. Its sunken design means it doesn't look like a church, so you might not notice it at first: it's opposite the Old...

Archaeological Museum of Macedonia

　　This supersized pile of Italianate-styled marble has been a giant receptacle for Skopje's recent splurge on government-led monuments to boost national pride. Inside, there are three floors displaying the cream of Macedonian archaeological excavations beneath the dazzle of hundreds of tiny lights. Highlights include Byzantine treasures; sophisticated 3D reconstructions of...

Tvrdina Kale Fortress

　　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 and its ramparts offer great views over the city and river. Inside the ruins, two mini museums were being built at the time of writing to...

　　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 even good nightlife. It also boasts Skopje's best historic structures and a handful of museums, and is the first place any visitor should head. Čaršija runs from the...

National Gallery of Macedonia

　　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 national art gallery, just by the entrance to the Čaršija. The seven restored rooms house mainly modern art and sculpture from North Macedonia, brought...

Latest stories from 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 more impressive – the bare granite boulder mountainside or the half-ruined monastery. Vivid frescoes, including a rare depiction of Christ as a boy, line the 14th-century Church...

Kokino Observatory

Sveti Jovan Bigorski Monastery

Ilinden Uprising Monument

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