Ohrid Travel Guide - Macedonia Tour

We had started our Balkans tour with Macedonia's Skopje, and now the last city to visit on the way back was the one described as the pearl of Macedonia: Ohrid. We had also visited it on a little getaway when we came to Mavrovo for skiing. But this time we came with more of a plan, to live Ohrid a bit more.

We set aside a whole day, as it deserves. Although the city isn't quite a Skopje in terms of history, it has plenty of places to visit and see. At the very end of the post we'll even have a tip for a town very close to the city! The desserts here are really good, take our word for it!

How Many Days for Ohrid?

As I briefly mentioned above, if you're after a historical trip around the city, you can easily see it in 1 full day. But since you've come all this way, we'd say stay longer, come in summer and swim in the lake too. For those wanting a beach holiday, we suggest going to the Kaneo area of the city. You can switch into holiday mode in the inner Balkans and comfortably enjoy Ohrid with a 4-5 day plan.

When to Go to Ohrid?

As we've said in many of our recent posts, we're not ones who like sightseeing in the heat. That's why we usually prefer spring, or rather, we pick times when the city is neither hot nor cold to travel. Our suggestion for Ohrid is April - June or September - October. Those who like can go in July - August and enjoy a beach holiday.

Where to Stay in Ohrid?

Because of some mishaps on our 10-day Balkans tour, we had to change where we'd stay along our route. As a result, even though we weren't going to stay in Ohrid, we had to at the last minute. A few days before arriving in Ohrid we booked through Booking.com and stayed at Boutique Villa Arte. For 1 night, 2 people, breakfast included, we paid 36€, 42$.

Villa Arte, where we stayed, is within walking distance of Lake Ohrid, and it has a nice parking setup too. Even though we chose it very quickly, it turned out to be a place we can recommend to anyone staying in Ohrid in terms of price and service. :)

How to Get to Ohrid, and Getting Around Ohrid

If you're going from Turkey directly for a Macedonia holiday, unfortunately there are no direct flights to Ohrid. You can first stop in Skopje and from there reach Ohrid by rental car or by bus. Ohrid is about 200 kilometres from Skopje Airport, and the trip takes 3 hours.

We came to Ohrid from Montenegro. On this road you pass Lake Skadar into Albania, and then reach Macedonia. Since we were passing through Albania anyway, we couldn't help stopping in Tirana. It fell far short of our expectations; we've put Albania on the shelf for another spring, to see its untouched forests :)

From Kotor to Ohrid is about 350 kilometres, and with 3 countries over that distance the journey naturally takes a long time. At each one there's a border crossing and check. Especially when entering Macedonia from Albania, the Macedonian officers do serious checks. Of course they're very warm and friendly to us Turks, and they let us through without a search.

If you want to go directly to Ohrid from Turkey, you can reach Ohrid from the İpsala border gate by passing through Kavala, Thessaloniki and Bitola in turn.

Getting around the city

There's almost no transport within the city. Everything is so close together that you can visit most places on foot. If you like, you can walk up to the fortress too. Since it was early in the morning, we drove up and visited the remaining places on foot. The journey to the city, which is 880 km from Istanbul, takes 10 hours.

Is Macedonia Cheap, and What Budget Do You Need?

We first wrote about Macedonia in our Skopje post; even though it's the capital, even Skopje felt like an affordable city to us. Ohrid is the same as Skopje, a city that's just as cheap. In the square we had soup for 100 MKD and ate our döner for 120 MKD. As of May 2018 the rate was 1₺,10 MKD.

As mentioned above, we paid 2200 MKD for our accommodation. If you like, you can find cheaper places to stay too.

What Comes to Mind When You Say Macedonia

• The masterpiece from the Ottoman era that has defied the years in Skopje, the Stone Bridge
• The deliciously tasty Skopje Köfte
• A must-eat at meals and at breakfast: Shopska (Shepherd's) Salad
• For those who remember, the Elveda Rumeli TV series,
• one of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's favourite folk songs, the Vardar Ovası folk song,
• one of the few military geniuses in the world, Alexander the Great , born and raised on Macedonian soil,
• the UNESCO-protected one we definitely recommend you visit, Lake Ohrid!
• Ohrid's very famous pearl!
• the Mavrovo and Popova Šapka ski resorts come to mind.

Food and Drink Tips in Ohrid

Now to the lovely Balkan food! As you know, our cuisines are very similar, so we had no trouble with food here :)
Since we had breakfast at the hotel and just a quick soup in the centre, we didn't get the chance to try a particular restaurant, but we've gathered the ones we read are very good.

To keep it here as a guide: almost all the restaurants along the shore are good at seafood, grilled dishes and local food. Another common thing you'll find is, of course, pizza! Lined up one after another right on the lake shore are Letna Bavča Kaneo, Restoran Sveta Sofija, Via Sacra, Restoran Cun...

On the old town side there are more home-style restaurants and kebab places that suit Turks. As you know, we're one of the countries that visit most, and this area is very touristy.

For tavče gravče, a spicy Macedonian bean dish, and more local flavours, Restaurant Antiko, again on the Ohrid shore, has been recommended.

Places to Visit in Ohrid

Compared to Skopje, there are quite few Ottoman-era works in Ohrid. But even so, there are a great many places to visit. If you like, you can climb up to the fortress in the cool of the morning and take a bird's-eye look down on the city. So let's start with the places to visit in Ohrid..

Tsar Samuel's Fortress

During the 10-day Balkans trip, Macedonia made me very happy when it came to castles. Both Skopje and Ohrid have a fortress that has the city at its feet. It's one of the most important landmarks that impressed me in Ohrid.

This 10th-century fortress once belonged to the Bulgarian Empire. Thanks to restorations in 2003, the fortress became visitable and you can walk along its walls. As you climb the steep stairs, we'll say "Be careful!" From the top of the fortress you can see the whole old town, and you'll also get a view from above of the splendour of Lake Ohrid. The entrance fee for adults is 1€ or 60 MKD, and for students 0.5€ or 30 MKD.

Ohrid Houses - Ohrid Old Town

The Old Town area, one of the first places to see in Ohrid, impressed us once again. We much prefer historic textures like this, far from modernity. Here you'll come across plenty of Ottoman Houses left from the Ottoman Empire and narrow cobbled streets. You can turn into any street from the bazaar and freely get lost in the streets of the Old Town. There are houses here similar to the Safranbolu houses, and the atmosphere is really striking.

This city is just our kind of place, a city to explore on foot! There are a few historic structures in the Old Town area. They consist of the remains of the Old Town walls, the city gates, the ancient theatre and many churches. The best preserved of the gates is the Upper Gate near the city centre. The Upper Gate right near it connects to the city's Ancient Theatre.

St. Clement Church

St. Clement Church, on Plaošnik Hill in Ohrid, was built in the 13th century and holds the relics of St. Clement; it's known as the Church of St. Panteleimon.

Of course, in the 15th century, with the rule of the Ottoman Empire, it began to be used as a mosque. In the 16th century it was rebuilt and turned into a church. We suggest adding this church, which is different in structure and architecture from the churches we'd seen so far, to your list of places to visit.

Sinan Çelebi Tomb

The Sinan Çelebi Tomb, right next to St. Clement Church, was once part of a complex with a mosque, caravanserai, soup kitchen, bathhouse and madrasa. But unfortunately, across the Balkan countries in general, there is an effort aimed at destroying Ottoman works.

You understand this very clearly when you talk to local people. Everything except the tomb has been demolished, and TİKA is carrying out restoration work on the tomb. TİKA is doing great work to revive Ottoman works in the Balkans and many other places.

Ancient Theatre

The Ancient Theatre in Ohrid's city centre was built in 200 BC and has a 4000-seat Hellenistic theatre structure. In the Roman period it was used for gladiator fights for executing Christians, and with the fall of the Roman Empire it fell into disuse.

Today it's used as a stage at the Ohrid Summer Festival held every year. Theatre performances are staged too, and entry is free.

Robevci Family House

The Robevci Family House Museum in Ohrid's Old Town is a wonderful opportunity for those who want to experience 19th-century traditional Macedonian architecture. The Robevci family's house, which burned down 35 years ago, was rebuilt there.

It welcomes visitors as a cultural and historical museum displaying keepsakes left by the Robevci family and Roman and Greek works from Ohrid. For us, its structure is reminiscent of the Bulgarian houses in Plovdiv. Plovdiv Places to Visit - Bulgaria Tour

Monastery of St. Naum - Sveti Naum Monastery

The Sveti Naum Monastery is south of Lake Ohrid, 30 km from Ohrid. This area, one of the most popular destinations in the city, comes first among the places to see.

St. Naum is a church with a stone façade and a wonderful view over Lake Ohrid. After St. Naum died, he was buried inside the monastery.

Tourists and locals would press their ears to the tomb to try to hear a heartbeat, to see whether this legend is true. Although it doesn't mean much to us today, most visitors do it.

After exploring the monastery, we walked towards the riverside for a short boat trip on the crystal-clear Drim River. For a fee of around €3-4 you can hire a rowing boat for a half-hour tour of this mini natural paradise.

Monastery of St. Jovan at Kaneo

We came across a great many Orthodox churches all over Macedonia. There were lots of churches and monasteries in the city. So we decided to be selective. If we'd tried to go to every one, we wouldn't have had enough time. Entry is usually free, or there's a fee of around 100 Denars.

Probably the most popular and most natural of the churches is the Church of St. John the Theologian at Kaneo. The church, which has become the symbol of the city, sits below Samuel's Fortress. When you come down from the fortress, or if you follow the paths along the shore, you'll find yourself heading up to this church.

Galičica National Park

On both our Bulgaria tour and in Montenegro we'd had our fill of beautiful parks. On the locals' advice we turned our route to Galičica National Park, 40 km from Ohrid. The park is also a mountain that separates Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa from each other.

Its untouched nature is an opportunity not to be missed for hikers, birdwatchers and nature lovers to enjoy breathtaking views. The air is fresh and clean, and from certain points you'll want to photograph the magnificent panoramic view of both Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa

Bonus: Struga

On my earlier visit to Ohrid, a Turkish person had insisted "Go to Struga!", and so we'd turned our route there. Since I loved it so much when I went, we turned our route towards Struga, thinking that wandering around it again with Berna would be something special..

Since it's mostly locals here, the town of Struga and the Struga river are perfect for those who want to get away from the tourists. Struga, just 15 km from Ohrid, still keeps its natural character. If the weather is nice you can swim in the lake on the town's shoreline. If you don't want to swim, you can go for a walk too.

Another thing we can't forget is the sweet café in Struga, amazingly cheap and reminiscent of old pudding shops! Young and old, everyone is here. The pudding shop of the eighties is still alive! And having celebrated Berna's birthday at this café, even without a candle, became a very sweet memory for us :)

Dredhza in Struga is the first place to go for dessert! The prices are good and there's lots of choice!