Skopje has been knocked down and rebuilt more times than almost any capital in Europe – by earthquake, by empire, by its own government – and somehow it manages to mix it all together. Ottoman minarets sit across the river from Austro-Hungarian facades and fantastical brutalist buildings, and the city is littered with chunky sculptures. It's fun, a bit mad and certainly vibrant. Whether you're flying in, or just passing through, it's worth spending an extra night or two in North Macedonia's extraordinary chief city before you head out to the mountains and lakes. We asked our Macedonian guide Vojislav, who grew up in Skopje in the last years of Yugoslavia, what the city means to him. "There was a feeling of never-ending freedom, we all shared so much," he told us. His childhood of mixed languages, cultures and religions still exists. That layered, mixed up identity is still exactly what makes Skopje worth a wander today. Here we’ve listed some of the must-visit places in Skopje, plus a stunning gorge just outside of the city. Visit Skopje’s Old Bazaar If you land in Skopje, head to the Čaršija (the old Ottoman bazaar) to peruse the many small shops. One of the largest Ottoman era bazaars still standing in the Balkans, Čaršija is a tangle of cobbled lanes, mosques and old craft workshops on the north bank of the Vardar. Mustafa Pasha Mosque and the 15th century Suli An caravanserai, once a stopover for merchants, are both worth ducking into. This is a city that still has its specialists: the hatmaker, the leather slipper maker, the belt and buckle shop, the watch-fixer. Seeing the (usually) elderly shopkeepers at work handcrafting their wares is a delight - and is rare to see in Europe. A wonderful souvenir to pick up are
Skopje has been knocked down and rebuilt more times than almost any capital in Europe – by earthquake, by empire, by its own government – and somehow it manages to mix it all together. Ottoman minarets sit across the river from Austro-Hungarian facades and fantastical brutalist buildings, and the city is littered with chunky sculptures.
