North Macedonia

Yes, twice - once as a (long) day trip from Sofia to Skopje, and in 2025 towards the end of a tour that stopped in Ohrid and ended in Skopje, where I stayed a couple of extra nights.

Ohrid is beautiful - worth taking a day for a boat ride across the lake. Skopje is an interesting mix of cultures, including a Turkish style Bazaar that includes the part that tourists normally visit and, further on, the every day working Bazaar.

Where in N Macedonia are you going?

Yes, we went in April 2023 and had an amazing time. We stayed in Skopje and Ohrid. As CWsocial says, Skopje is very interesting as one of those places where different cultures met, like Sarajevo. The Ottoman-era old town reminds me a lot of Sarajevo. Some of the newer stuff is interesting as well, like the gigantic "statue of a warrior on a horse" which they can't officially call Alexander the Great due to a dispute with Greece.

Lake Ohrid is magical- beautiful clear waters with some lovely orthodox churches to walk to. For me that is the highlight of the places we went. You can also get a boat from the town of Ohrid to Sveti Naum and see the monastery where St Cyril invented the Cyrillic alphabet. If you have time I also recommend a visit to Mavrovo National Park, including Sveti Jovan Bigorksi monastery, another beautiful orthodox complex. I can highly recommend the guide we used if of interest.

The airport in Skopje is fairly modern and decent.

I didn't expect replies nevertheless such quick replies. And great suggestions. It's hard to find unbiased information reviews on the country. Thank you. My wife and I are going to visit an old friend. He was an exchange student in our high school 50 years ago, from Skopje. We'll have a couple of days on our own before we meet up with him and his family.