It's my first data sheet as there is limited intel available on Skopje. A bit of context to set the scene. I live in London and travel extensively on weekend European breaks. I usually go solo but lately being travelling with a like minded friend. My friend is British (white dude) and I am Indian. We are both in early thirties but we look late twenties. We decided to explore Skopje/Ohrid for three nights. Primarily relied on night game but funnily enough had an instance were a hb7 approached us in the day asking if we were lost. We were actually looking for a place to eat and she took us to a cool place. Before you ask, she had a boyfriend but the point here is that Macedonians are friendly and pleasant with good English speaking ability.
Girls - The average girl on the street is hb6 and there were surprisingly a large number of fatties. You will see the occasional hb8/9 on the street but it is only during the night when they start crawling out of the woodwork. We saw quite a few absolute stunners but I would say that the overall quality is higher in Croatia and Serbia.
Thursday night
As it happens we arrived on Skopje's version of prom night. The difference from the US version is that all the graduates go to a few select restaurant/bars to celebrate. We stumbled across one such place by the river (Dion cafe). The talent level was off the charts and I have never seen so many 18yr olds looking absolutely stunning in red carpet type dresses! This is a place really to look than approach as the girls are seated at tables with large groups. Posting up at bar is no use as there is table service. After getting our full we walked to the old town (across the river) where there is a street with about 5-6 bars. The setup of all the bars are similar where everyone sits outside on the few tables available. Not a great place for pickup as you are too reliant on the luck of the draw of being able to sit in the vicinity of sets. Maybe it was prom night but in general, we found 2/3 sets to be lacking on our Thursday night out.
Midnight club - This is by the river and is a Latin themed bar. There were 2-3 great dancers but in general the guys just stand around. There are two bars. The main bar is right by the dance floor which makes it hard to have a conversation over the music. The second bar is right by the entrance and was far easier to open up girls. A constant problem we both faced was that the girls' friends would constantly check up on her and ultimately pull her away. I was chatting up hb9 and she had to tell her friends to go away four times! By the fifth time, she politely told me its her friends birthday and it would be rude not to spend some time with her. Rolling out solo or with a wingman is not going have a major influence on your success with groups here. It also felt a bit like Poland where a girl will happily chat to you only for you to find out later that she has a boyfriend. Overall, my recommendation for guys with dance skills is go there early as it becomes to crowded later on to show off your mad salsa skills!
Club vanilla - This is in the shopping mall by the river and meant to be a high end place. it opens up at 1am. I would not recommend this place as it reminds me a lot of clubs/bars in Romania (based on my experience in Cluj and Brasov). It's ear piercing loud and its primarily full of groups. We stayed for an hour, tried chatting up a four set in the smoking area and left.
Club Social - We stumbled across this place at 3am and its by macedonia square. It's a basement bar with a sofas next to the walls and standing tables dotted around the club (reminded me of the high-end clubs in Manila). Again this place was full of large groups but was not as loud as club vanilla. We sucked it up and approached large groups. Girls were generally pleasant but the interaction unsurprisingly ended with cockblocks from the remaining group members. Based on our conversations it is clear here that social circle game is key. The girls told us they know a lot of people at the club through school and university. This makes it a lot harder to escalate as even if the girl is into you, she doesn't want to develop a reputation as a groupie for foreign tourists!
Friday night
Trend bar - it's by Macedonia square and a stylish restaurant lounge to sit down for food and drinks. The clientele is well dressed with a few stunners. Big groups are less of an epidemic and there were a few two sets. A tip here is that the free tables generally have a reserved sign. It's purely for show and you should sit down as close as possible to girls you want to approach.
Club Havana - it's situated in the park and opens in the summer. Luckily enough it had its opening night on Thursday. I read on NN's blog that this was a good venue for gaming. Things must have changed as it was absolutely dreadful. It's a high energy trance music type of setting which seems to attract the ugliest girls in Skopje. We were shocked to see girls wearing hoodies, pyjama type pants and even one dancing with her rucksack. Needless to say we made a swift exit and went back to the high heels and tight dresses in the city centre.
Be2 club - it's by Macedonia square and a hip hop place. The front part of the club was closed for a private party which was unfortunate as there were absolute stunners walking into the club. We managed to find the entrance to back part of the club which was open to the public. The music was deafening and we tried to chat to few girls. All of the conversations were short as due to the music, the girls struggled to hear and converse in English.
Up cafe - the setup is cool where you need to walk through a children's clothing store to access the cafe. It's essentially a roof terrace bar populated with a young crowd. The setup was the default skopje combo of large groups with loud music. Stayed for a drink and left.
Marakana club - it's in the park next to club Havana. After a long and frustrating night of venue hopping we decided to go back to midnight club. However we were turned away with the bouncers saying something about needing a reservation! I guess showing up late at 3am didn't help. A tip here would be to go to midnight club at 12am and pay the £2 to get the entry stamp. This gives you the option of returning at a later stage. Anyway we left cruising the night and opened two girls walking by. They were going home but told us to go to marakana club. Marakana is nice little venue with live bands. Average looking girls here but easier to open due to the size of the venue. My mate opened up a four set and the girls were pleasant and friendly. Unfortunately they were leaving the club soon and a number close was the realistic option. My sense is that this would be a good venue to game if you come early. We just spend an hour there as the venue emptied out at 4am.
Saturday night
We catch a three hour bus ride to make our way to lake Ohrid. This is the summer party place which really kicks off in July/August. Although it is late may, with the sun out we reckoned that the place should still be busy for the weekend. The area around the lake is picturesque with bars and restaurants dotted around the lake. This place is clearly setup for crazy summer parties but as we were in the offseason the vibe was laid back. All of the places we visited were around the lake and not more than 5mins from each other.
Terrazza cafe - A nice lounge on the upper floor of a mall. It overlooks the main pedestrian street and ideal for talent watching. We went there to start the night and the cute waitress helped us out by telling us which venue to hit and when. We found out this is important as in the offseason, the locals have a set time sequence to hit particular bar/clubs.
Liquid bar and cafe - we went there at 10pm and the place was busy. Very chic setup with a superb outdoor area right on the lake. Inside the bar has standing tables and has sections were the music is not too loud. Surprisingly there were a few two sets. We approached but quickly found out that unlike Skopje, quite a few of the girls did not speak English.
Jazz & blue (duck cafe) - this is one of the two spots locals go to at 12pm. I liked this place as it had a talented live band but the music was just at the right level to make conversation. The setup is also such that girls are accessible to approaches. I got opened by a local hb7 who was curious to know if I was Indian. I immediately went into gaming mode and brought my buddy in to banter her two friends. I had a great rapport with her and gradually amped the level of kino. It finally looked like the stars were aligning and I was on way to my Macedonian flag. Sadly it was not to be as I experienced my worst ever cockblock. On her friends (hb5) was trying to pull her away. When that didn't work she grabbed my hb7's hand and put her body in between me and hb7! I tried talking to hb7 again who was still receptive but now her other friends were also cockblocking. At this stage we moved on and for a laugh hit on a 8 set hen party from Skopje. We knew it was not going to go anywhere but the girls were fun and even bought us couple of rounds of shots.
Havana club (Cuba libre) - this is other club which locals hit at 12pm. With memories still fresh from the horrible namesake club in Skopje, we soldered on to Havana club at 2pm. The setup is such that dancefloor surrounds a central rectangular bar. So there is no obvious place to post up and it was so crowded that we were being constantly pushed around due to the traffic. My buddy tried opening up one of the few sets and got quick rejection as the girls spoke limited English and the music was too loud for them to make the effort to converse.
Final thoughts
Skopje is highly frustrating for night game (admittedly for a weekend trip) and in my opinion you would require a huge slice of luck to get a bang from hitting bars/clubs. We didn't really try day game but I think a krauser style day game would be more rewarding. The city itself has not much to do and you will get quickly bored in two days. Ohrid was similar to Skopje but should be much easier when the tourists flock to the city in the summer. Overall, I won't be returning to Macedonia anytime soon as there are far easier places like Croatia to pull slavic girls.
I am going to Skopje on May 31st to spend the weekend.
I was thinking in going to club Sektor 909, that is not on your list... any info about it?
What club do you think I can find more girls in early thirties? I would like to avoid the 18-22 kids.
I am thinking in just do a day trip to Ohrid. Rent a car, leave in the morning and get back to go out in the night in Skopje. Do you think this would be better to spend the night in Ohrid?
(This post was last modified: 05-20-2013 08:30 PM by The_Carioca.)
(05-20-2013 08:24 PM)The_Carioca Wrote: Nice! Thanks for the info!
I am going to Skopje on May 31st to spend the weekend.
I was thinking in going to club Sektor 909, that is not on your list... any info about it?
What club do you think I can find more girls in early thirties? I would like to avoid the 18-22 kids.
I am thinking in just do a day trip to Ohrid. Rent a car, leave in the morning and get back to go out in the night in Skopje. Do you think this would be better to spend the night in Ohrid?
Some of the girls we met recommended Sektor 909. Its meant to be a hip hop place. It is away from the city center and we just did not have the time to fit it in our schedule.
For gaming the older crowd head to club social and club vanilla. Make sure you dress well. There are also two bars/lounges inside the shopping center next to the river (club vanilla is located there) where the older crowd hung out before heading to the clubs.
I would recommend spending the night in Ohrid as the nightlife is worth a look.
I'd like to share my experience in Ohrid. I made a video, so you get an idea of the place (nightlife info at 1:40, 8:05 and 11:10; Saint Naum monestary at 4:00; city and fortress from 9:30).
Intro
Lake Ohrid is truly beautiful. I have rearly seen water so clean and villages so picturesque, and I've seen many lakes in Switzerland, Austria and Italy. The feel is very relaxing. Have to say that I was fortunate with weather.
I was there in June. High season only starts mid-July. As a result, bars were closing around 1am. Apparently this changes during summer. Also you'd be able to find parties every night during summer.
Girls
Mostly brunettes. Girls I have meet were christian-orthodox, I have not met any Albanian/Muslim girls. I did not see any stunners, but solid quality on the street.
Nightlife
Most places were cockfests and all girls seemed to be there with male company. Group of friends standing around tables makes it hard to approach. Here are the locations that I checked out.
Terazza Aquarius
Bar which had rock-type live music when I was there on Thursday. Big group of young Brazilians who were recommended to go to this place by their guide. Overall chill atmosphere and compared to other venues only a few tables, which made it easier to talk to people. Closed around midnight.
Liquid cafe bar
Club-like bar a few meters from Aquarius. Slighly higher-end. People standing around tables and not being able to talk, as music is very loud. Still girls were approachable and open to meeting me.
Cuba Libre Beach&Bar
Relaxed area for dates, sitdown couches by the water. Later at night, there was live music and the place filled up. People that popped in after midnight were dressed up. Apparently there's an other club next to it, where people go later.
Objectif
Bar which had live music Saturday when I was there. Again groups standing around tables. Slightly older crowd.
Irish Pub Dublin
Typical irish pub, good size, I recommend for a beer or two.
The Duck Cafe
Bar with covered outside sitting. Very empty when I was there before midnight. Later turns into a nightclub, but I had no chance to check this out.
Cuba Libre Havana
By the same owner as Cuba Libre Beach, this is the nightclub in the downtown area. Go after midnight. I did not go there.
Conclusion
As said, the lake is stunningly beautiful. I rented a scooter (25 Euro for 24h) and drove around. I wanted to drive around the lake, but I was refused to enter Albania at the border (they did not like the scooter). Swimming in the lake is possible. Food and drinks are cheap, as well as accomodation.
Skopje--no reason to go there compared to other cities in the region. As OP said the average is a 6 (he's being generous, I'm not, I think it's closer to 5) and with the power of relative value, a Macedonian 7 will think she's a croatian 8.5. Volume is moderate, reception isn't as warm as you will get elsewhere. The girls are reticent. You'll get no extra value for being a westerner.
A lot of the fatties you will see will be Albanian. The city centre is full of gypsies washing themselves in the fountains, begging and stealing. Bazaar area is nothing of the character of Sarajevo. If you've read NN city guide, then you'll see that he pipelined before he got there. My opinion is closer to the responders in the comments section who have spent time there. For daygamers, the main mall is very far from city centre, although there is a far smaller one --quite useful--near the old railway station in the centre. Bazaar area is a waste of time. In short, nothing special about skopje.
On the positive side, it's cheap and Macedonians are generally nice people. There is some limited tourist game to be had.
Night game might be good there, but can't comment as it's not really my thing. Overall I concur with the OP's conclusion and that's coming from a daygamer's perspective.
Macedonia or FYROM ( as Greeks and Albanians call the place) is not really a bad place, but you don't have much to do.
Ohrid is nice and picturesque but staying more than 2 days is boring.
I think that the average quality of the women in Skopje and Ohrid is indeed 5 or 6 mostly between Slavic Macedonian girls.
On the contrary to you, and in my experience most of the fatties in Skopje are Slavic Macedonian while the Albanian presence in Ohrid is not big.
3 of my American friends stayed 5 days in Skopje each guy banged 2 girls ( none of them Albanian).
Even 2 black American guys had a lot of success with Slavic Macedonian while girls there in the week they stayed there.
I think that the ugliest girls in both cities are gypsies while among Albanian girls you will find a higher quality than Slavic Macedonian but they are all the time with Albanian guys.
For example, in my staying in Albania, in Tirana, the average albanian girl quality is high and pretty high during the evening and night and almost the only really fatty and ugly fenales are gypsies.
I think is the Albanian cockblocking That makes the game harder there.
In Albanian dominated cities such as Tetovo and kumanovo is almost impossible to play.
I wouldn't say that the Macedonian girls are harder than Croat ones, I think they are easier.
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