Ski Rep. of Macedonia

Macedonia is in fact two different places. The official country that is Macedonia is officially ’FYR Macedonia’ – with ‘FYR’ standing for Former Yugoslav Republic. This is to differentiate it from the southern half of Macedonia – which remains a region of Greece.

Both have Macedonia ski areas, in the case of the official country that’s Macedonia about half a dozen.

Some of the original centres that date from the Yugoslav area are medium-sized by international standards. Popova Shapka has several gondolas accessing its slopes and a 1400m vertical, Zare Lazarevski is another popular centre.

However the most interest since independence has been in the new resort of Kozuf established in 2007 with big plans to be a true international standard resort with modern lift infrastructure.

It has been built close to the Greek border and only 60km from the coast.

Initial development failed to live up to expectations but the resort was built by a Dubai based firm in 2010 who announced a 200 million Euro spend.

The area was largely a military closed zone for 40 years until recently. It peaks at 2160m from where you can see almost all of Macedonia to the north and the Aegean Sea, Thessaloniki and Mount Olympus in Greece to the south.

Rep. of Macedonia: latest snow conditions round-up

Snow: next 3 days

Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in Rep. of Macedonia. Fresh snow is forecast at 8 resorts. Powder is reported at 0 resorts and 0 are reporting good piste conditions.