Our daughter is serving in Macedonia with the Peace Corps and we are planning a trip in 2013. We are thinking of arriving by plane, renting a car and visiting Macedonia with a side trip to Dubrovnik. Has anyone done this and is willing to offer any advice or warnings?
Roger from Cincinnati.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I spend a little bit of time there over a decade ago, so I'm holding out the possibilities that things may have changed in the interim. Wasn't my favorite country. There's some nice mountain scenery- from a distance. Get a little closer, and you see a lot of poorly maintained infrastructure. The capital, Skopje, is the ugliest and most depressing capital city I've seen in Europe. I've heard that Lake Ohrid is nice, but I never made it there myself.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15584 posts
In June I met someone from Macedonia who works in the tourist industry. He said to wait 2-3 years to visit, they are working on infrastructure and tourist sites but they aren't "there" yet. Maybe daughter can take time off and meet you somewhere else?
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
BTW, when I was there, every effort was being made by what counted as a "tourism industry" to direct me towards the "Alexander the Great Palace Casino". Sorry, I didn't bite.
Posted by
Piedmont, OK
80 posts
We visited Macedonia in 2011. I liked it because it wasnt touristy. We only stayed a few days, but enjoyed our stay. Lake Orhid was beautiful. They were and are still in the process of doing a lot of improvements to Skopje. I also found that the roads i travelled on were very nice and well kept. We travelled roundtrip by car from Montenegro (close to Dubrovnik) to Skopje and it took at least 12 to 13 hours, we were told it was only 6-7 hours. On the way there we went towards Kosovo and then over to Macedonia, the return trip we traveled towards Albania and then back over to Montenegro. I preferred the trip thru Lake Orhid and Albania.