Cash or card at hostels in North Macedonia

When I stayed in Ohrid near Lake Ohrid, every hostel and guesthouse was cash only. In Skopje, Urban Hostel accepted my card without problems. Honestly, if you’re traveling across the country, it’s better to carry cash for your stays. ATMs from Komercijalna Banka worked fine in Skopje. Just don’t assume the machine in smaller towns will work every time, so withdraw enough before leaving the capital.

I found it 50/50 in North Macedonia. Some places in Skopje had modern payment systems and took Visa or Mastercard, but the hostel I stayed in Bitola flat-out refused cards. It’s also worth noting that internet connections sometimes go down, so the card machines stop working. Safer to bring denars in cash. Plus, I noticed some hostels actually gave me a slight discount if I paid in cash.

My experience in Skopje’s Old Bazaar was that almost everyone preferred cash. The hostel near the central station did have a card reader but charged a small fee for card payments. When I went to Ohrid, I had no choice but to pay in cash, and the nearest ATM was a bit of a walk from the hostel. Best advice: don’t depend on cards outside big cities.

In Skopje, most hostels I stayed at (Get Inn Hostel, Shanti Hostel) accepted card, but the terminals sometimes didn’t work. They often asked me to pay in cash instead, even though the booking site said cards were fine. Outside Skopje, like Ohrid, it’s very cash-dependent. I’d recommend carrying denars since smaller towns and family-run hostels almost always prefer it. ATMs from Stopanska Banka were reliable for me in the city.