Good afternoon everyone. Last week, I published 2 trip report posts about my recent EuroTrip (Visit Chisinau, Moldova & Transnistria (Breakaway State / Frozen Conflict Zone) and 6 Hour Layover in Bucharest, Romania? Visit Palace of the Parliament (Second Largest Building in the World)). Today is the third and final trip report post about my experience visiting Skopje, the capital of Macedonia (FYROM = Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). My friend and I had a rental car and made the 3-4 hour drive from Sofia, Bulgaria to Skopje, Macedonia. We stayed 2 nights at the beautiful Skopje Marriott Hotel, using 10,000 Marriott Rewards points per night. Thanks to Marriott elite status, we were upgraded to a suite with complimentary access to the lounge (snacks, drinks, desserts, etc) and complimentary breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Here is a photo from inside the spacious lounge and the view outside the lounge.
The day we checked out, I stopped by the lounge one last time and spotted this snowman that the hotel made outside the lounge.
During our short stay in Skopje, we wanted to visit Kosovo, but our rental car company would not allow us to drive into Kosovo. I reached out to Boris at Virtual Macedonia and arranged for a driver to pick us up at the hotel, drive us to Kosovo, and then drive us back to Skopje (50 euro total). The driver was very nice and spoke very good English. Because the weather was not great, it took us about 1.5 hours to go from our hotel to Kosovo and back to Skopje. When we got back to Skopje, we asked the driver to drop us off at the castle near our hotel. The castle is actually called Skopje Fortress and we were able to walk along the wall and take pictures of the city below.
After walking around the Skopje Fortress, we went back to the hotel and hung out in the lounge for a little bit. We then walked around Skopje and saw some pretty cool decorations and statues.
I don’t know what these buildings / monuments are, but they were impressive. Strangely, there was a palm tree next to the river and a pirate ship docked in the water. Only in Skopje…
Even though we only spent 2 days in Skopje, I was very impressed with the city. I didn’t get a chance to try many Macedonian dishes, but I wish I did. I wonder what the city looks like on a nice Spring or Summer day. If you have any questions about Skopje, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Those buildings look gorgeous with the dusting of snow. Thanks for the report.
Glad you liked the report. Beautiful city.
How did you get 10000 points per night on a level 3 hotel?
It was a category 2 hotel when we booked it several months ago. Even at category 3, this hotel is great.
How was the food there?
I didn’t get a chance to try much of the local food, sorry.
Except that your favorite Eastern European capital is actually a city in South Europe. And if you don’t trust a random person on the Internet like me, check what the United Nations say on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_geoscheme_for_Europe
Dang, you are right! Geography was never my strong suit :(
Please correct your huge mistake which, if done by a country, are grounds for war. The correct name is Skopje, North Macedonia or Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. This is an agreement between Greece and North Macedonia. Greece has a Macedonia, but it’s different.
Keeping track of all these official country names is challenging :(
Pingback: Marriott Bonvoy Guide, Current Hotel Promotions, Crime Rate Perception Gap, Bank 1099 Madness - TravelBloggerBuzz
Thank you for the trip report! Could you please give me the contact of the driver you used? 50 Euros return seems like a very fair price, similar to what I paid in Georgia and Armenia for this type of service
Hi Julien, I just sent you an email with the contact info for the driver. Have a great day.