North Macedonia

Sublime Ohrid is North Macedonia's most seductive destination. It sits on the edge of serene Lake Ohrid, with an atmospheric old quarter that cascades down steep streets, dotted with beautiful churches and topped by the bones of a medieval castle. Traditional restaurants and lakeside cafes liven up the cobblestone streets, which in high summer can be very lively indeed. Outside of July and August, the tourist circus subsides and the town becomes more lived in.

Ohrid is small enough to hop from historic monuments into a deck chair and dip your toes in the water – a lovely little town beach and boardwalk make the most of the town's natural charms. A holiday atmosphere prevails all summer, when it's a good idea to book accommodation in advance. Ohrid's busiest time is from mid-July to mid-August, during the popular summer festival.

Skopje has plenty of charm. Its Ottoman- and Byzantine-era sights are focused around the city's delightful Čaršija, bordered by the 15th-century Kameni Most (Stone Bridge) and Tvrdina Kale Fortress – Skopje's guardian since the 5th century. Don't miss the excellent eating and drinking scene in Debar Maalo, a lovely tree-lined neighbourhood.

For most of its existence, Skopje has been a modest Balkan city known for its rich local life, but the last decade has seen its centre transformed into a bizarre set design for an ancient civilisation. Towering warrior statues, gleaming, enormous neoclassical buildings, marble-clad museums, hypnotic megafountains…and plenty of lions.

This is the result of a controversial, nationalistic project called 'Skopje 2014' implemented by ex–Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Some of the buildings along the riverbank are already suffering flooding and have unsteady foundations.

North Macedonia's oldest national park, created in 1948, Pelister covers 171 sq km of the country's third-highest mountain range, the quartz-filled Baba massif. Eight peaks top 2000m, crowned by Mt Pelister (2601m). Two glacial lakes, known as 'Pelister's Eyes', sit at the top. Summiting both Mt Pelister and the lakes is one of the park's biggest hiking attractions.

Pelister's 88 tree species include the rare five-leafed molika pine. It also hosts endemic Pelagonia trout, deer, wolves, chamois, wild boars, bears and eagles.

In WWI, the foothills were used by the Macedonian Front, and it was here and Bitola that bore the brunt of the country's involvement in the war – now commemorated in a moving history trail within the park.

Pelister has excellent village guesthouses nearby and is just 30 minutes away by car from historic Bitola. With its fresh alpine air and good day hikes, the park is an underrated Macedonian stopover.

Adrift on Lake Prespa, Golem Grad was once the king's summer playground but is now home to wild tortoises, cormorants and pelicans, and perhaps a few ghosts. A settlement endured here from the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD and during medieval times there was a monastery complex. The ruins, birdlife and otherworldly beauty make it well worth exploring. Vila Raskrsnica or Dzani Dimovski (070 678 123), who owns the cafe at Dupeni Beach, organise trips.

The winery was designed in traditional 19th-century Macedonian style, and its tower is a dedicated tasting room, decorated with local furnishings and offering spectacular views over the estate. It's usually only used for group tastings – enquire ahead if there's a few of you and you'd like to do a tasting. Informative (free) tours of the vineyard and the site's heritage run four times a day.

This revered 1020 Byzantine monastery is located, fittingly, up in the gods along a track of switchbacks off the Debar road, close to Janče village. Legend attests an icon of Sveti Jovan Bigorski (St John the Baptist) miraculously appeared here, inspiring the monastery's foundation; since then the monastery has been rebuilt often – apparently, the icon has occasionally reappeared too. The complex went into demise during communist rule but has been painstakingly reconstructed and today is as impressive as ever, with some excellent views over Mavrovo's mountains.