For Part I, check out this post about how to hike to a 15th century cave church in Vishni, Macedonia. This post is Part II of a weekend self drive road trip from Tirana, Albania to Ohrid, Macedonia. All photos are my own.
We said goodbye to Vishni and continued on to our final destination for the weekend, Ohrid. I can pre-emptively say that between the hike in Vishni and the charm of Ohrid, this long weekend in Macedonia has won a spot among my favorite road trips in Europe.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, this is a two day/two night guide and trip report on visiting Ohrid in the off season, including information on getting there from/to Tirana, Albania.
Day 1 in Ohrid: Arrival, Checking In, Aimless Wandering
Finding Ohrid was much easier than finding Vishni, and we were quickly able to find the Old Town. We made our way through the gates and, due to the low season, we were able to park for free in a make-shift lot. When we got out we took in the strange juxtaposition of a random parking area in front of the 200 BC ancient theater. Ohrid is one of the oldest inhabited human settlements in all of Europe, and as a UNESCO World Heritage site it’s packed with history and beautiful architecture at every turn.
I’m still not used to casually parking a rental car from my adopted city of Tirana in front of an ancient site in the Old Town of a charming little village in a neighboring country I never thought I would visit. More times than I could count this weekend, I was physically overwhelmed with gratitude to be right here where I was, doing what I was able to be doing, with such good people.
Our apartment for the weekend, at Villa Ohrid, had a 12:30 check in time and we had planned to arrive early to wander around and find lunch first. The heart of the Old Town, Sveta Sofija church and courtyard, was a mere 10 minute’s downhill winding walk from our apartment, which is part of why we chose it (more details on Villa Ohrid coming below).
I had done some restaurant research on restaurants in Ohrid and Restaurant Sveta Sofija consistently came up as one of the best. There was some question as to whether or not it would be open that early, because lunch hours are sometimes affected outside of the high season. As luck would have it they were open and led us right to the patio overlooking the courtyard garden and the church. We were the only guests.
The meal absolutely did not disappoint. We were so hungry and so overwhelmed with the sheer amount of food that we tucked in before anyone even thought to take a picture. We passed bites around the table, sharing everything and pronouncing it all amazing. We took our time, eating, drinking, talking, and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.
Visiting Ohrid in the Shoulder/Low Season
Given the idyllic circumstances, of course we immediately fell in love with Ohrid. The streets were all but empty of locals, and we didn’t see any other tourists walking around. It was clear October was solidly in the shoulder/low season, which suited us all just fine.
There were a few men gathered drinking coffee on the opposite side of the courtyard, the cats kept us company begging for fish under the table, and our waiter came ‘round to re-fill our glasses and ask about where we were from and if we were liking it here. These knots of activity took place in an utterly silent Old Town- the only thing I remember hearing was the sound of wind through the trees, where the birds were chirping.
I imagined the streets filled with lake-bound tourists in layers of bathing suits and summer clothes, eating gelato and heading to the beach for drinks and swimming. A few shops advertising para-sailing and scuba diving were darkened. It wasn’t hard to picture how busy and lively it could get here in the high season, and I’m sure I would have enjoyed that experience as well.
On the whole, I much preferred having Ohrid to ourselves over the ability to swim in the lake and mingle with other travelers. Throughout our time there nothing was closed that interfered with our ability to enjoy our visit, which isn’t always the case when traveling in the low season.
Some tourist destinations feel lacking without the energy of so many people, as though the buildings have no purpose but to be filled with souvenirs and postcard stands, but Ohrid didn’t feel that way at all. It seemed as though Ohrid was just Ohrid, visitors or not.
It was interesting even in the off-season when so many of the diversions of vacation and the tourists seeking them are absent, and the fact that none of the restaurants or shops were closed spoke to their importance to the community as a whole, not just to need for the tourism industry.
Where to Stay in Ohrid: Villa Ohrid Review
After a long lunch we headed back to Villa Ohrid to check in. We couldn’t believe our luck when we saw the house and were led to our room. Kiwis covered the roof of the porch and the wall along the walkway to the back door.
There was a large porch overlooking our own little grassy yard, and beyond that, the misty lake shining under the sun.
It was a proper apartment, with a separate living room, kitchen area, bathroom, and one bedroom. The place was spotlessly clean and had what looked to be brand new furniture and bedding. It comfortably slept all 5 of us between two double beds and a large pull out recliner that transformed into a single bed.
The owner spoke English and was helpful with getting us checked in. We were the only guests (due to the off season) and when the owner left it felt like we had rented an entire house for the weekend. I didn’t take any pictures of the inside, but the current pictures on booking.com for Villa Ohrid are accurate.
Ohrid Old Town in Pictures
We don’t like to rush or be overscheduled, or miss out on random experiences that tend to fall in your lap when you don’t have a plan, so we all had agreed the first day would be totally unstructured, and the second day would be sightseeing. We set out that afternoon and evening just to wander the streets.
Even if the unstructured roaming style of travel is not your typical approach, when you visit Ohrid, you really should be sure to allot some time for just rambling around, poking through alleyways, petting random animals, and eating whatever fruit is hanging in your face as you walk along the paths.
The variety of stonework offers the perfect textured background for all of the greenery and blooming vines. Flowers hang out of pots and stretch from between the rocks in the walls, they line the stone streets and soften the edges, they wind themselves around the trees filled with fruit.
Because of the terraced infrastructure, and the stonework, juxtapositions of a roof next to another yard next to a narrow winding staircase under a flag of laundry are frequent.
This gives all the charm of the unique stone city infrastructure of places like Venice or the tiny cities of Cinque Terre carved into cliffs. Having the place to ourselves felt too good to be true, and we walked for hours marveling that it was a real place, and that we had the good fortune to visit.
We explored cobblestone streets, narrow stone staircases, terraced neighborhoods, thin winding alleys, and random hills that were incredibly steep. Flowers and fruit seem to burst out of every seam, from fig and olive and persimmon trees to kiwi vines draped across roofs to grape vines running along wall tops.
Lake Ohrid
And then, of course, there is the lake. The UNESCO site describes it as “a superlative natural phenomenon” because it has such unique biodiversity, but I would say it demands the superlative in terms of pure beauty as well.
The banks of the lake have been occupied for about 2,400 years, and I can understand why people have wanted to live near such water for so long. It is enormous, ringed with hills and mountains, crystal clear, and often covered in layers of mist that blend with the clouds. When the sun is piercing through the mist and clouds and reflecting off the lake it creates a view that I would call magical if it wouldn’t be such a cliché, so I’ll say I don’t know what to call it.
It becomes hard to differentiate between the water, the sky, and the clouds. This creates a strange illusion of the entire world being either an expanse of sky covered in clouds, or an expanse of water covered in shifting mist.
The terraced landscape and rolling hills of Ohrid mean that from most places you can get a topographical view of the life of the village: the lake, which has a palpable presence; the city nestled on the shore, a patchwork of jigsawed houses scattering up the stairstepped land; the details of each little house, from tiled roofs, bursting gardens of fruit and flowers, cats pacing fences, chickens scratching in the yard, dogs lounging in the sun, families on walks or playing in their yard; women shaking out laundry to pin to a clothesline, chatting with one another over the fences.
I can’t emphasize enough how incredibly slow everything was, in the best way possible. We simply wandered along, and everything unfolded in front of us, graciously giving us perfect walkways and gorgeous views. We didn’t have to work to find anything- the boardwalk appeared, curving the coast and the water, and it obligingly led us to a small pebbly beach.
Again, we were given a pleasure we didn’t have to plan- a restaurant sat at the base of the shore side cliffs, with a wooden balcony above it jutting out from the rocks. We were the only guests, so we sat on the balcony to watch the conveniently timed sunset over lake with wine and cheese.
The entire room filled with the warm glow you get at sunset, and added to the overall drowsy spell of Ohrid seeping into your skin and buoying you with a feeling that just doesn’t happen very often in the hectic pace of Tirana.
Once the sun was gone we set off along the water in the opposite direction of home until we found a walking street lined with shops and restaurants. This was the part of Ohrid that reminded me of Nice in some ways. But somehow this commercial avenue didn’t feel hectic or rushed, even though there were blocks and blocks of places to spend money. The night ended at Cosa Nostra, a solid pizza place with a huge selection of toppings and styles. They also randomly served the best banana split I’ve ever had. This was particularly fortunate, since it was also Malwine’s first.
Day 2 in Ohrid: A Walking Itinerary for Sightseeing
The next morning Malwine, no doubt needing some rest after saving our hike in Vishni and experiencing the joys of her first banana split, headed back to our pebbly sunset beach to enjoy the solitude and a book. The rest of us set off on some leisurely hiking around Old Town.
It’s not hard to do a greatest hits of Ohrid’s Old Town sights- signs are helpful, and the Old Town is not large. This is the loop we did, with no real need to consult maps or check where we were going, and no backtracking:
- We walked from the ancient theater up a very long hill to Tsar Samuil’s fortress
- An easy, tree lined path then took us right to the stunning St. John at Kaneo (Sveti Jovan Kaneo) church on a cliff overlooking the lake.
- Winding back through a stone forest path brought us to the Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon.
- Looping from the Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon back past the ancient theater and beyond we left through the gates of Old Town to walk the outer wall. We walked every area available to us around the perimeter of the Old town, and explored a bit of the modern side of Ohrid.
- Upon re-entering the Old Town gates, we stumbled upon the National Workshop for Handmade Paper. Pictures below are of the old location. They moved to a new building in July of 2020.
With no time limits, plans, or expectations we still managed to visit all the main sites and the outer walls on foot at a leisurely pace. We also added in random alley wanders, exploring neighborhoods that looked adorable, petting every cat we saw, and purposefully trying to get lost and find ourselves in a place where we had to orient with other landmarks and the compass (Narrator’s Note August 2020: none of us had a smart phone, and reading “compass” is just so precious).
We also fully enjoyed the perks of low season- we were often the only people in these stunning places.
Final Night in Ohrid
Our group reunited for a late lunch/early dinner at Damar, which was right next to Restaurant Sveta Sofija. Once more, we were the only guests- I cannot recommend Ohrid in the low season enough.
Damar was a standout for the wide variety of vegetarian options and fresh salads. One thing I have missed since moving to Albania is a variety of flavors, because food tends to be very meat and potatoes heavy, with a noticeable lack of fresh spices. It was so nice to be able to order a myriad of plates that were totally different, filled with vegetables, and presented in interesting ways.
We decided to repeat our sunset session over the lake, and took another walk down the boardwalk to the dock.
Our last night ended with a dessert and wine feast at our first and favorite place, Restaurant Sveta Sofija. We all found it hilarious that a restaurant named after the church it is right in front of has an inappropriate salad appropriately named “Sexy Salad”.
Ohrid is one of the most pleasant places to simply wander. Being there in the off season felt like being in an atmosphere perfectly curated to be beautiful, give pleasure, and present you a variety of options for activities, food, or lounging. I’m sure much of this was due to the absence of crowds, the perfect weather, the fantastic food, and my fellow travelers.
I’m left with the feeling that Ohrid is the kind of place one goes to write a book, or paint on a back porch overlooking the lake, or do yoga at sunrise, or sleep in a hammock. If you’re looking to not have a care in the world, in other words, find a way to get there and stay awhile.
Practicalities
Driving from Tirana to Ohrid or Vice Versa
Google Maps will tell you it’s a two hour drive from Tirana to Ohrid. We found it to be more like three hours, but as previously mentioned in the post on Vishni linked above, we were not trying to get memorialised on the side of the road with a cross. You also have to factor in border crossing, and buying supplemental insurance for your rental car. This was painless, and the border guards didn’t even check our luggage, but it does take time.
Because of the length of the drive, and the amount of things to do and see in Ohrid, I really wouldn’t try to cram this into a day trip from Tirana. Give it at least two days and one night, arriving early on the first day and leaving late afternoon the second day if you are really pressed for time.
If you are making this trip from Tirana as your base, I would highly advise you not to drive back to Tirana at night. The road is terribly lit, has poor guardrails, and drivers make dangerous blind passes on switchbacks. If you were to break down, cell reception is spotty, it is rather isolated, and many people in the area will not speak English. Note that even my local friends in Tirana made us promise them we would not drive at night.
I say this as someone who has traveled to 35+ countries at the time of this writing and has rented cars in many of them, including living in SE Asia for two years and driving extensively via motorbike and car throughout Laos and Thailand: Albania far and away has the most dangerous driving culture I have ever experienced. It’s just not worth the risk.
Where to Stay in Ohrid
Villa Ohrid was outstanding when we stayed there, and according to updated research at the time of this writing, it is still consistently getting rave reviews. The garden and the view are both key to the charm, and the spotlessly clean rooms make for a comfortable stay. Current reviews support that this is still the case. If you find yourself there in October, like we did, the garden will be overflowing with flowers and fruit.
Where to Eat in Ohrid
Here is a round up of all the restaurants linked in this post:
Restaurant Sveti Sofija (everyone’s favorite)
Sunset Bar on the beach- sadly, this exact bar doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Restaurant Kaneo, further up the shore towards the church, has outstanding reviews.
Narrator’s Note: this post was originally published November 4, 2012, on Blogger. This resource has been completely updated with expanded and recent information as of the time of this publication.
