thetrainfamilyImagine the following: there’s a picturesque lake. On each side of the serene lake are two larger tourist towns with comfortable hotels, inviting restaurants, a charming lakeside promenade, AND a well-equipped bus station. The distance between the towns is approximately 37 km. Wouldn’t you initially think that you could easily travel by bus between these two towns? I would guess that you’d say yes. That’s what we thought too when planning to travel between Pogradec in Albania and Ohrid in North Macedonia, located on each side of UNESCO’s Lake Ohrid. Unfortunately, the real answer is no!
We searched travel blogs, watched captivating videos on YouTube, and contacted our accommodating landlords in both Pogradec and Ohrid. The answer remained the same: no.
The three Options
Our research resulted in these possible ways to get from Pogradec to Ohrid:
- Take a bus from Pogradec to Tushemisht (3-4 km) and walk across the Albanian border and then through the no man’s land between Albania and North Macedonia before crossing the North Macedonian border. From there, there will be an enchanting hike to the SV Naum Monastery, from which buses to Ohrid run regularly.
- Take a bus from Pogradec to Tushemisht. Walk across the border and continue to Sv. Naum Monastery, from where we could take a ferry to Ohrid. However, the ferry would cost 15 euros pr. Person and we would still have to walk.
- Take a taxi all the way from Pogradec to Ohrid.
After watching this YouTube video, which was recorded a few weeks before we took the trip (12.09.23) and showed a very narrow path to walk on, we decided on option 3. But how do you get a taxi? We didn’t see many in Pogradec, and besides, we really wanted to see the SV Naum Monastery when we practically passed by it.
The Luxury Mercedes-Benz
We wrote to our landlord again. Fortunately, he had a cousin with a “luxury Mercedes-Benz” who would drive us all the way from Pogradec to Ohrid, including a 1-hour stop at the monastery while he waited for us, for 45 Euros.
We politely accepted this offer.
Pogradec to Sv. Naum
The journey from Pogradec to the Albanian part of the border took about 10 minutes, including our driver making a stop at a restaurant to drop something off and receiving a baguette in return. We probably could have walked from Tushemisht, as a pavement is being constructed there. At the border, the driver collected our passports and went to the “cage” with them, and after a few minutes, we were in no man’s land.
However, there was no pavement in no man’s land, and it wouldn’t have been comfortable to walk there with our luggage and children. By car, the journey only took a few minutes, and we were at the North Macedonian border. We waited for about 20 minutes because there were two buses that needed to be checked before we could cross. The passport control itself was quick, and then we had to wait a bit again until a border guard manually came over and pressed a button to open the border gate so we could drive through.
Unfortunately, there was also no pavement after the border crossing, so the walk to Sv Naum would have been challenging here as well.
The monastery is an absolute must-visit if you’re traveling from Pogradec to Ohrid. There will be a blog post about it later.
Sv. Naum to Ohrid
The journey from the monastery follows the winding road along the lakeshore and passes through smaller towns. Our driver made an effort to reach speeds of 100 km/h where 60 was allowed, but fortunately, we ended up driving behind a large tour bus, which limited his speed. The children had a slight bout of motion sickness when we were at the monastery and luckily didn’t vomit, but they were quiet and somewhat exhausted when we arrived in Ohrid. The trip, including a 40-minute stop at Sv. Naum, took 3 hours! And we were happy that we had chosen a taxi over a bus and walk.
