Sports and leisure activities - Northern Macedonia in 2024

Practical information : Move & Laze around Northern Macedonia

Budget & Tips

One of the destination's great assets is its mountain hiking trails: easy, moderately easy, difficult or only feasible with a professional guide. All in all, there's plenty of opportunity to stretch your legs at low cost, with the added bonus of superb scenery.

What's very local

Cheap skiing: there are small ski resorts all over the country. If you come in winter, just try to avoid weekends, as it's often crowded.

Your documents please

Well-marked footpaths link North Macedonia with Albania and Kosovo. To cross the borders, you need to apply for a "Border Crossing Permit" at the nearest police station or border post. Alternatively, you can use a specialized agency to take care of the formalities (at least two weeks' delay), such as Shar Outdoors(sharoutdoors.com) in Northern Macedonia, Trek Balkan(trekbalkan.com) or Superxplorers(facebook.com/superxplorers) in Kosovo and Zbulo(zbulo.org) in Albania. For Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, it's essential to use an agency, as there are no "official" trails. Some hikers cross borders without permits. Checks are rare. But if they do, they risk a €300 fine, or even prosecution, especially if you enter the Schengen area illegally (Greece, Bulgaria).

Main events

The country has two well-known events, which anyone can enter. The Skopje Marathon(skopjemarathon.com) usually takes place on October¹. The Ohrid Swimming Marathon (facebook.com/ohridskiplivackimaraton) takes place in late August or early September. It's a 30km race in Lake Ohrid, starting from the St. Naum monastery. There are also mountain races such as the Vodno-Matka "marathon" (vodnomatka.mk), in March: not quite a marathon, but a 40.6 km, 2,680 m climb from Mount Vodno to the Matka canyon.

Sports and leisure activities Northern Macedonia

TENNIS CLUB JUG

ABC TENNIS CLUB

FÉDÉRATION D’ALPINISME DE MACÉDOINE DU NORD

DIVING MACEDONIA

MKD MOUNT

SHERPA HORSE RIDING

AÉROCLUB DE SKOPJE

AK SKOPJE

FÉDÉRATION NATIONALE DE CANOË-KAYAK (КАЈАКАРСКА ФЕДЕРАЦИЈА НА МАКЕДОНИЈА)

VERTIGO PARAGLIDING CLUB

MAKEDONSKI ŠUMI (МАКЕДОНСКИ ШУМИ)

STATION DE SKI ZARE-LAZAREVSKI

MANDRA

STATION DE SKI DE NIŽEPOLE

STATION DE SKI DE KOPANKI

SHARA MOUNTAIN GUIDE

STATION DE SKI DE POPOVA ŠAPKA

KAYAK ADVENTURE MACEDONIA

HORSE RIDING BOZOVCA

ADVENTURE PARK SKOPJE

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Practical information : Move & Laze around Northern Macedonia

Budget & Tips

What's very local

Your documents please

Main events