Get to Skopje via Bus
There are daily buses to Skopje from Sofia and Pristina leaving several times per day between 6AM and 5PM, daily. Buses from Prizren leave at 5:30AM and 9AM and take 2-3 hours depending on border crossing. From Belgrade, Thessaloniki (Mon. and Wed. only), Istanbul, Zagreb, Austria, Germany, Dubrovnik, Tirana, and Podgorica. The buses arrive in the bus station which is below the train station. All the domestic and international buses arrive in the bus station. It is a new bus station and very modern (Telephone: (+389) (2) 246 60 11). 24 hour left luggage facilities are available for 50 MKD per bag As of May 2013 there are two daily buses arriving in Skopje from Tirana run by an Albanian travel agency called Pollogu (Telephone: +355 42 235 000 / +355 69 20 94 906 / email: pollogu.tirana@yahoo.com).
One way ticket costs €20. The bus leaves daily from Tirana at 09:00 and 21:00 taking around 8 hours as it travels from Tirana through Durres and then does a loop through central Albania before crossing through the border near the city of Struga. The bus takes the passengers to a bus station in Tetovo, Macedonia where you must transfer to a smaller shuttle bus for the last 45-60 minute connection. There is a 30 minute rest stop half way through the travel to have lunch. Route is very scenic going through the mountains especially on the Macedonian side of the border. If you wish to travel to Skopje from Sofia, Matpu 96 run two buses a day. Their office can be found in the Sofia Central Bus Station (Serdika), and the buses depart there at 16:00 and 19:00. Another bus company Kaleya also runs the same service twice a day, departing at 07:00 and 17:00. The cost of a ticket is 33 Lev (€16.50) as of July 2014, but they accept Euros too. This includes 1 Lev baggage fee. The journey will take around 6 hours and will also include a time zone change from Sofia (GMT + 2) to Skopje (GMT + 1 or Central European Time), so the 16:00 bus will arrive at Skopje Bus Station at approximately 21:00. It is also possible to take a night bus from Sofia to Skopje. Bus from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia Eurobus is an international coach operator based in Macedonia that has almost daily tours from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia. Prices from 70€ and possible to get student discount. The website of the bus company is available in German – EuroBus Macedonia, (Telephone: +436643014416) (eurobus_mk@yahoo.de), Almost daily in modern coaches from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia. Stops in the major cities Skopje, Tetovo, Ohrid. €75/€140rt from Vienna.