North Macedonia – Skopje to Pristina, Kosovo bus

Skopje, North Macedonia to Pristina, Kosovo by bus

This was so easy. I turned up at the bus station, bought the ticket and boarded the bus. Why did I think it would be difficult, just because I don’t speak Macedonian or Kosovan? I got to see some spectacular scenery on the 3 hour journey across the stunning mountains and valleys between the two countries of North Macedonia and Kosovo. Border control was a breeze at 10 mins max and I didn’t even have to leave the bus. It was a foggy day as the photos will show, but I loved it in the comfy minibus.

My mountain and valley journey

This is how I went from Skopje to Pristina by bus.

The two cities are only around 100 km apart and it just seemed so advantageous to take in the other place as well.

Click here for my post on Skopje, North Macedonia 

Click here for my post on Pristina, Kosovo

Online info about how to get between the two cities is pretty scarce. There seemed to be a train route but finding info on it was difficult. The train website kept coming up in non-English and I even read there isn’t actually a link …. who knows.

Bus transport was better – I found a timetable for the route for Skopje to Pristina by bus and a rough price guide. My ticket eventually cost about 12 euros  …. a bargain.

Click here for this is the schedule I found online which seemed pretty accurate but do check other sites

Despite the short distance between the two cities the bus journey takes between 2-2.5 hours on the schedule (mine took longer – around 3 hours. The route is across some spectacular mountain scenery, although at the time I was travelling it was a very white, wintery scene outside and somewhat foggy.

Skopje bus station

The bus station is fairly modern but not overly big. It’s located on Boulevard Kuzman Josifovski Pitu on the south side of the river. I could see it was a 20 mins walk from my hotel down a straight route, so I walked it. No problems there as the route has a wide pavement. It actually passes by a small shopping Mall which I popped into for a bit of excitement along what was a fairly boring urban landscape.

It’s is located underneath the flyover part of the train station and looked a little like a bit of an afterthought structurally. Fitting it in under the platforms at street level in a strange wrap over roofed building was creative though and no doubt saved them having to build a roof!

The station itself has a big open waiting area with those aluminium non-descript chairs. There’s also an ATM, cafe, toilets, a couple of shops and even a currency exchange. It all looked modern, maybe a tad small, but was clean and organised enough. Taxis were waiting outside on the road if you are coming into Skopje

The buses stop outside, mostly under the flyover at numbered stops and a large arrivals/departures board indicates which bus go where.

Don’t expect punctuality – I noticed few arrived/left on time, usually within 20 mins of the published time was the rough norm.

Ticket purchase

It was an easy process to buy a ticket at the counter. The Skopje to Pristina line has a dedicated counter but there is more than one plying the route so check from the online schedule which company you are travelling with.

The attendant spoke basic English but to be honest saying “Pristina?” and making the gesture of “now” or pointing at your watch number for a future time is easy enough. Buses leave roughly every hour. I planned to catch an early bus, just in case it was full and I could then catch the next one, and still get into Pristina at a decent time.

Some buses are more direct/non-stop and charge a few Euros extra for the convenience and tend to be the better ones. Locals will use the stopping service.

There was no online booking available but my on-the-spot 12 euro ticket was excellent value.

I waited by the sign on the post that said Pristina and noted that the indicator board inside was coinciding with the same number bay so I was confident I was in the right place.

When 15 mins after departure time had arrived, I started to get concerned. I awkwardly asked someone waiting in the same bay area as me “Pristina”, pointing to our bay. I got a re-assuring nod so felt confident that it was just a case that the bus was late arriving.

Another tense 5 mins later and the minibus arrived with the route Skopje -Pristina in local lettering on the dashboard window. I was surprised it was a mini-bus as so many big coaches arrived and left during that time, so assumed mine would be a coach as well.

However I noticed it was a newish, clean model and once inside felt it was decent and comfortable. Five mins later, off we went

Leaving Skopje bound for Pristina

Leaving the city through the traffic was fun. Cars move fast here and my minibus was no exception, so I tried not to watch the traffic too much.

Apartment blocks gave way to small factories and then small houses and a few new or partly-constructed small villa style houses.

What I hadn’t realised was, that although it was cold in the city, the countryside had experienced snow. The further we approached the mountains the thicker the already lying snow became. I hadn’t countered on a snowy winter drive through what I knew were mountains ahead on the route.

Luckily the driver seemed to slow down and take the road conditions into account as we left the urban area. However the further out we got I also noted it was getting foggier.

The first 20 kms or so was fairly flat, mundane, snow-filled fields and the number of houses was getting less and less. We started to climb although the roads were still reassuringly straight .

Magnificent mountain passes

Forty kms out and we now started passing through lower mountain villages. They seemed fairly desolate with little sign of shops, bars etc although there were multitudinous garages – presumably for farm vehicle repairs.

Suddenly we were in mountain country and I could actually feel the air pressure on my eardrums. The vistas now became more mountainous – but the annoying fog was obscuring what must have been even better views in clear weather, so I didn’t get the chance to fully appreciate it.

The route is across some spectacular mountain scenery, although at the time I was travelling it was a very white, wintery scene outside. The road was actually quite good with little traffic. Every now and again a mountain gorge came into view with sweeping views across the valley. The journey’s views were entertaining me and time was flying by.

It was clear that we would be arriving late into Pristina. The 2.5 hour scheduled time was now up and there was no sign of a city ahead. We actually took around 3 hours, due to the snow en route. I was so glad I had taken this journey and not flown or skipped the chance of a two-city trip. The scenery was captivating.

Easy border crossing

The border control was pretty basic. The guard gets on the bus, walks up the aisle taking passports, gets off, they get checked in 10 mins, he comes back on board and hands them back and on you go. This was quick – I had been warned that the border can get busy and delays happen but it was a breeze for me

I did wonder if the guard would take exception to my Serbian passport stamp (Serbia regards Kosovo, where I was crossing into, as a breakaway state and doesn’t recognise its independence). No problem however, and I even got a Kosovar stamp put in my passport as well!

So, 2.5 hours into the journey and it was clear we were now descending, again through small villages on the way.

The scenery was not that different on this side of the border and so it was pretty much a repetition of what I saw on the way up the mountains.

Pristina’s arrival was quite quick. The fields suddenly gave way to houses and then apartment blocks in a very short space of time. We were now turning off the main road and heading down a long slip road to …. I guess the Terminus

Arrival in Pristina

The bus station here is quite different to Skopje’s. It is on the edge of the city which actually is only around a 30 min walk to the south of the central area,

Structurally it was a concrete building with surrounding views of fields to one side.

I alighted and headed into the bus station to get my bearings and check out the station. It definitely felt more dated than Skopje’s although the car park and spaces for buses was huge in comparison. I went inside hoping to see some sort of signage for the taxis.

The central city area was around 30 mins walk away but there did not seem to be an obvious walking route out of the station across the slip roads towards the far buildings.

I had planned to walk but just felt like I was stuck in a island off a motorway with no walking route out. People were being picked up in cars but I couldn’t see a taxi stand.

In desperation I wandered around the building and a kindly man saw me looking confused and asked if I needed help. I asked where the taxi stand was and he kindly walked me over to it on the outskirts of the terminus to where they were – (I would never have found it due to the lack of any signage).

He asked where I was going and I showed him the address that the apartment people had emailed me in case I caught a taxi. He passed it to the end taxi driver who nodded, put the meter on and off we went. Such a warm gesture, just as I arrived.

The route he took then opened up my eyes as to how to walk out of the terminus to the housing blocks nearby and thus onto the main road for the walk into town. It would be easy now to know how to walk back to the bus station but I was actually leaving Pristina by plane  …. next time maybe.

Jan 2018