16 verified reviews
Based on 16 reviews
Liam C.
Vancouver, CA · May 2026
I installed the eSIM using the QR code within 30 seconds after landing at Skopje Airport. The 4G speed was excellent throughout my trip, even in rural areas. I had no issues streaming videos or using maps on the go!
Sophie W.
Toronto, CA · Apr 2026
Navigating through Ohrid was a breeze thanks to the esima eSIM. The speeds were fast enough for all my needs, including video calls and social media. Highly recommend for anyone traveling to Macedonia!
Ava M.
Melbourne, AU · Apr 2026
Overall, the eSIM worked well during my trip to Macedonia. However, I had some trouble with the initial installation as the app wasn't very clear. Once I figured it out, speeds were decent and I stayed connected throughout.
Ava M.
Melbourne, AU · Apr 2026
While the eSIM worked well in Skopje, I had trouble with connectivity in the more remote areas. The speed dropped significantly, which made it hard to use navigation. Overall decent, but could improve in less populated regions.
Sven A.
Stockholm, SE · Mar 2026
I couldn't be happier with the esima eSIM for my holiday in Macedonia! It was incredibly easy to install with the QR scan, and I had 5G in the cities. Everything just worked perfectly from day one!
Tarek I.
Beirut, LB · Jun 2026
لقد كانت تجربتي مع esima خلال رحلتي إلى مقدونيا رائعة. كانت سرعة البيانات ممتازة للبث والتنقل. ومع ذلك، واجهت بعض الارتباك مع الإعداد اليدوي في البداية. ولكن بمجرد أن قمت بحلها، كانت الأمور سلسة!
Manon R.
Bordeaux, FR · May 2026
Bien que l'eSIM ait bien fonctionné à Skopje, j'ai eu des problèmes de connectivité dans les zones plus reculées. La vitesse a chuté considérablement, ce qui a rendu l'utilisation de la navigation difficile. Dans l'ensemble, c'est correct, mais cela pourrait s'améliorer dans les régions moins peuplées.
Sara N.
Manama, BH · Apr 2026
بينما كانت eSIM تعمل بشكل جيد في سكوبي، واجهت مشاكل في الاتصال في المناطق النائية. انخفضت السرعة بشكل كبير، مما جعل من الصعب استخدام التنقل. بشكل عام، مقبولة، لكن يمكن تحسينها في المناطق الأقل كثافة سكانية.
Typical home-carrier roaming
£10–£18
per day
Esima eSIM
£3.43
Flat rate
Most international carriers treat North Macedonia as a Balkans roaming zone, charging per-day fees that stack quickly over a week-long trip. Roaming bundles from major networks typically throttle after the first gigabyte or two, and hotspot is often disabled or metered separately.
An esim gives you a flat data allowance at local prepaid pricing — you pay once, use what you need, and hotspot works without extra charges. Roaming can also trigger unexpectedly when you drive near the Greek or Serbian borders, adding surprise fees to your bill.
The eSIM locks to North Macedonia's towers and does not roam unless you explicitly enable it, so your cost stays predictable whether you are in Skopje or hiking Mavrovo.
Different trip, same eSIM — here is how it lands for the most common visitors to North Macedonia.
You are driving the E75 from Skopje to the Greek border, stopping in Veles and Gevgelija. The eSIM holds LTE on Makedonski Telekom the entire route, so Google Maps never drops and you can message your next guesthouse without hunting for Wi-Fi. Offline maps are cached as backup for the Demir Kapija canyon where A1 Macedonia has gaps.
Balkan road-tripper
You fly into Skopje Friday evening, take a shared taxi to Ohrid, and spend the weekend walking the Old Town and the lakefront. The eSIM activates on landing, Bolt gets you a ride to the bus station, and 4G works across the entire town. Sunday's drive to Sveti Naum drops to 3G, but you downloaded the monastery details over breakfast Wi-Fi.
Ohrid weekend visitor
You are spending three days in Mavrovo National Park. The eSIM gives you 4G in the village to check weather forecasts and trail conditions each morning. On the trails above the lake, signal thins to nothing, but you cached your maps and let your hostel know your route before you left. Back in the village each evening, WhatsApp and Instagram work fine.
Mavrovo hiker
The apps locals and travelers actually use — the ones that need real cell data, not just hotel Wi-Fi.
Bolt
Rideshare in Skopje — request rides, track drivers, pay in-app
Google Maps
Navigation and place search across North Macedonia
Messaging and voice calls with guesthouses, tour operators, and home
Booking.com
Hotel and guesthouse reservations, especially in Ohrid and Skopje
Moovit
Public transport directions in Skopje (JSP buses use paper tickets, but Moovit shows routes)
~50MB per day for text and voice messages, ~150MB per day if you are making regular voice calls to guesthouses or tour operators.
Maps
~100MB per day for live turn-by-turn navigation in Skopje and on the motorways; less if you cache offline maps for Ohrid and Mavrovo.
Rideshare
~5MB per ride on Bolt in Skopje — minimal data for requesting, tracking, and payment.
Winter in Mavrovo (December through March) brings snow to the national park and the ski resort, but 4G coverage remains limited to the village — trails and slopes have 3G at best.
Summer (June through August) sees the highest visitor numbers in Ohrid, and network congestion can slow speeds on the lakefront promenade during peak afternoon hours.
If you are hiking Mavrovo or driving the mountain roads in winter, download offline maps and weather forecasts over Wi-Fi before you leave the village, because signal thins quickly outside the built-up area.
Yes. Ohrid town and the lakefront have full 4G on both Makedonski Telekom and A1 Macedonia. The road to Sveti Naum monastery and the Albanian border drops to 3G about ten minutes south of the city center, so download offline maps before you leave town.
Mavrovo village has 4G coverage on both carriers. Hiking trails above the lake and deeper into the park thin to 3G or lose signal entirely. Cache your maps and trail details before you leave the village if you are planning a day hike.
Yes. The E75 motorway from Skopje through Veles to the Greek border at Gevgelija has reliable LTE on Makedonski Telekom. A1 Macedonia has gaps near Demir Kapija in the canyon section. Download offline maps as a backup if you are relying on navigation.
A week of Google Maps navigation, WhatsApp messaging, occasional restaurant lookups, and social-media uploads will use 3–5GB. If you are streaming music on long drives or uploading video from Ohrid, add another 2–3GB. Most travelers land comfortably in the 5–7GB range for a week.
Yes. WhatsApp voice and video calls work over the eSIM's data connection. A ten-minute voice call uses about 5MB; a ten-minute video call uses 20–30MB. You do not need to enable international calling on your home plan.
Yes. Bolt operates in Skopje and requires live data to request rides, track drivers, and process payments. The eSIM provides the data connection Bolt needs. Coverage is strong across the city center and the airport route.
Both carriers deliver full 4G across Skopje's city center, the Old Bazaar, and the Kale Fortress. Makedonski Telekom has a slight edge on the A1 motorway toward Tetovo and the E75 corridor south. A1 Macedonia is competitive in the capital but thins faster in rural areas.
Makedonski Telekom holds LTE more consistently on the A2 motorway and the road around Lake Ohrid. A1 Macedonia has good coverage in Ohrid town but becomes patchy on the drive to Sveti Naum and the Albanian border. If you are navigating, Makedonski Telekom is the safer bet.
Yes. Download the North Macedonia map in Google Maps before you leave Wi-Fi. Offline maps handle turn-by-turn navigation without data, useful on the road to Sveti Naum or in Mavrovo National Park where signal thins. Live traffic and place searches still need data.
An eSIM saves you the queue at the Telekom kiosk, the passport photocopy, and the minimum top-up most airport SIMs require. You install it before you fly and activate on landing. The coverage and speed are identical — both use the same Makedonski Telekom or A1 Macedonia networks. The eSIM is faster and lets you keep your home number active for two-factor codes.
Yes, but cross-border roaming can trigger unexpectedly on some plans when you are close to the frontier. Verify your coverage map and disable roaming in your phone settings if you want to avoid surprise charges. The eSIM locks to North Macedonia's towers unless you enable roaming.
The eSIM provides data, but JSP buses still use paper tickets as of 2024 — no official mobile ticketing app exists. You will buy tickets at kiosks or from the driver. The eSIM is useful for checking bus routes on Google Maps or messaging your hostel about arrival times.
Spotify or Apple Music at normal quality uses about 70MB per hour. The drive from Skopje to Ohrid is roughly two hours, so expect 140MB for the trip. If you are on a tight data budget, download playlists over Wi-Fi before you leave.
Yes. Bitola has full 4G coverage on both Makedonski Telekom and A1 Macedonia. The city center, Širok Sokak pedestrian street, and the ancient ruins at Heraclea Lyncestis all have strong signal. Coverage thins on rural roads outside the city.
Yes. Hotspot and tethering are enabled by default. You can share your phone's data connection with a laptop, tablet, or travel companion without extra charges. Useful if you need to work from a café in Skopje or upload photos from Ohrid.
Going further than North Macedonia? These plans include North Macedonia plus everywhere in between.
North Macedonia runs on apps — Google Maps to find the Ottoman-era bazaar in Skopje, WhatsApp to confirm your guesthouse check-in in Ohrid, Bolt to grab a ride when the last bus has left. A North Macedonia travel eSIM drops you onto Makedonski Telekom or A1 Macedonia's network the moment you land, so you skip the airport SIM hunt and the per-day roaming charges your home carrier will levy for every Balkan tower ping.
Balanced use — social, navigation & light streaming
How many travelers?
Landing in Skopje with an esim means you walk off the plane, turn off airplane mode, and your phone registers on Makedonski Telekom or A1 Macedonia within thirty seconds. No queue at the Telekom kiosk, no passport photocopy, no minimum top-up.
Installation happens before you fly: scan the QR code esima emails you, label the line 'North Macedonia' or 'Travel', leave it switched off until you touch down.
The eSIM behaves like any local prepaid plan — full LTE speeds in Skopje, Ohrid and Bitola, thinning to 3G in the national parks and along the Albanian border. Hotspot works without extra permissions, so you can share data with a tablet or a travel companion.
The difference between this and a physical SIM bought at the airport is negligibility of setup time and the ability to keep your home number active for two-factor codes.
Skopje's JSP public transport still uses paper tickets as of 2024 — no official mobile app exists — so you will buy those at kiosks, but every other traveler task (maps, rideshare, restaurant lookups, hostel messaging) runs through the eSIM.
If you are driving the A1 motorway toward Kosovo or the E75 south to Greece, Makedonski Telekom holds signal continuously; A1 Macedonia has patchy zones near Tetovo and Demir Kapija where you will drop a call or lose navigation for a minute.
Three reasons travelers pick esima for North Macedonia. First: pricing mirrors local prepaid rates, not the roaming premiums most international carriers charge for coverage in the Balkans.
Second: the eSIM hands off between Makedonski Telekom and A1 Macedonia automatically, so you get the stronger signal in Bitola's town square rather than being locked to one carrier's gap.
Third: hotspot and tethering are enabled by default — useful if you are traveling with a laptop or sharing data with a companion whose device does not support eSIM. No throttling on the first tranche of data like some regional bundles impose.
Your QR code lands in your inbox minutes after purchase.
Pay one upfront price — no surprise charges abroad.
Your physical SIM stays active for calls and texts.
Connect to top-rated local networks at full speed.
Real humans ready to help, any time zone, any day.
Scan once and you're online — no app, no SIM swap.
Our North Macedonia eSIMs run on the Makedonski Telekom and A1 Macedonia networks. Makedonski Telekom has the widest 4G footprint, covering rural stretches and the A1/A2 motorways end-to-end.
A1 Macedonia offers competitive speeds in Skopje and Ohrid but thins near Tetovo on the A1 motorway and around Demir Kapija on the E75 corridor. The E75 route from Skopje through Veles to the Greek border at Gevgelija holds reliable LTE on Makedonski Telekom; A1 Macedonia has gaps in the canyon sections.
Mavrovo National Park has 4G in the village itself but drops to 3G or no signal on hiking trails above the lake. The road from Ohrid town to Sveti Naum monastery and the Albanian border falls back to 3G on all carriers.
Cross-border roaming with Greece and Serbia can trigger unexpectedly on some plans — check coverage maps before relying on a regional bundle.
Network
Make sure your phone supports eSIM — most recent models do.
Pick a plan and pay securely. Your QR code arrives by email in minutes.
Scan the QR code, enable data roaming on arrival, and you're online.
WhatsApp +44 7367 063273
