Practical Information
The official language in the country is Macedonian, however Albanian is also in the western part of the country. English is quite popular so you won't have any trouble communicating, but just in case check out the basic words and phrases in Macedonian ----> Basic Macedonian.
The official currency is the Macedonian denar which has been pegged to the euro and fluctuates very insignificantly so 1 EUR will be approximately 61.5 MKD. Most of the shops accept both credit and debit cards of the major international companies, but do bear in mind that Macedonia no longer operates with cheques, so it would be quite time consuming to cash it in any of the banks.
Macedonian banknotes have a value of 10 MKD (≈0.16EUR), 50 MKD (≈0.80EUR), 100 MKD (≈1.60EUR), 500MKD (≈8.10EUR), 1000 MKD (≈16.20EUR) and 5000 MKD (≈81.30EUR).
Macedonian coins have a value of 0.50 MKD (≈0.008EUR) which are very rare, 1 MKD (≈0.016EUR), 2 MKD (≈0.032EUR), 5 MKD (≈0.08EUR), 10 MKD (≈0.16EUR) and 50 MKD (≈0.80EUR).
For the official exchange rates of the National Bank of Republic of Macedonia click here.
The official business hours of most of the companies including banks are from 08:00-09:00 (opening times) to 16:30-17:00 (closing times).
The electricity is 220V coming out of an Europlug type socket, so if you are coming from a country that uses other types of sockets make sure you bring an adaptor for your appliances.
For a complete overview of traveling in Macedonia click here.
Macedonia uses daylight saving time and is in the GMT +1h time zone, or Central European Time (CET).
There isn't a general rule when it comes to tipping in Macedonia but if you like the service, 10% would be okay.
Country dialing code: +389
For the complete list of the dialing codes and useful number please click here.
Mobile Networks
There are four mobile operators in the country: T-Mobile (prefix: 070;071;072), One (prefix: 075;076), VIP (prefix: 077;078), Albafone (will launch soon)
Internet Access
Macedonia has great internet access and has a good coverage of 3G networks. Almost every major city has free wi-fi hotspots and almost every restaurant, coffee shop, bar or mall has its own free wi-fi for visitors.
