Skopje Travel Forum

What is the best way to get from Athens to skopje? I looked at flights last night and found one for $250USD and it was direct. Today when I went to book it was $1000USD and no direct flights were found? Any help would be appreciated. My end destination is Bitola.

Getting to Skopje is straightforward enough, there is a daily train from Thessaloniki leaving at 19.15 and arriving at 19.39 (although delays are not unusual). Of course you can easily get from Athens to Thessaloniki by either bus or train.

However if you want to get to Bitola you still have a 3-4 hour bus journey from Skopje to Bitola. The bus station in Skopje is right beside the train station, see www.sas.com.mk for timetables. A more direct route would involve getting a train or bus to Florina. But the problem is that there is no public transport from Florian to Bitola, so you would need to get a taxi, which might be a bit expensive especially if you are on your own but still cheaper than a $1000 flight!

You don't say when you're gooing, 3000+ Scotland football fans are going for the first weekend in September and a few days either side, flights have filled up and there is - genuinely - not a hotel room in Skopje that period!

I want to leave Athens July 11th.

Just correcting a typo in my earlier post: I should have written "leaves Thessaloniki at 16.15".

Don't go to Skopje if you want to go to Bitola.
Try to find a bus combination from Gevgelija or Veles to Bitola. Trains to Bitola also pass Veles, but not that often. A taxi ride from train station to bus station in Veles should cost 30 denar.

There is a bus wich goes from Athens to Florina on the Macedonia-Greece border. Takes around 8hrs drive and return ticket was (3 months ago) €65.
From there you can have friend from Bitola pick you up, or taxi. Taxi can pick you up fro €20 one way. If you like I can give you a name of an taxi driver I use, every time when I go home to Bitola.
I think this is the cheapest and most direct way to get to Bitola from Athens, if you do not have time constraints.
Also if you are flying in from USA, the cheapest way to get to Macedonia is :
1) DELTA Airlines from Atlanat.GA to Düsseldorf, Germany for €620 return trip
2) Lufthansa,JKF Inetrnational to Frankfurt for €588 return
from Frankfurt or Cöln/Bonn you can get flight with www.germanwings.com to Skopje or Ohrid for €237 retun.
If you need more help drop me a massage.
Valentina