Macedonia, 4th (Bradt Travel Guide) Paperback – August 21, 2012

The best, and for the most part, the only travel guide on this country. A bit superficial but it does brief you on all the highlights.

this was a great book for my trip last year to Macedonia. very helpful and informative

If you are looking for a guide-book with detail on what to see and do in Macedonia, as opposed to a list of hotels and restaurants, this is the book. It contains a wealth of information on the most important sights, many very useful maps, and a lot of background contextual information on the country. If read carefully it will help you understand the importance of what you are seeing (such as how the Byzantine art of Macedonia preceded and influenced the Italian Renaissance) and local customs (such as the belief drafts are unhealthful, even on a sweltering bus or train). Being country specific, it contains far more information than guidebooks devoted to broader areas such as the Western Balkans. The one weakness is that is does not contain a lot of photos, though it does have photos of many of the most important sights.

Great book and only one. Used this past summer while traveling in Macedonia.

Very informative and lots of good facts.

I particularly appreciated the author's comprehensivecoverage of political and social issues that are apparentin the society today. A very well-wriiten, insightful firstchapter explains all you need to know about the historyof this intriguing country.

This book was long on facts, and short on feelings: lots of useful info on hotels, addresses, places to eat and see; and very little that inspired me to go to Macedonia. I think the country would be a very special travel destination, but little in the book made that clear.

I remember riding in the Basque Country a few years ago, carrying a thick Spain guidebook with me. Every now and then I would to a small town that obviously was quite historic and impressively scenic, would open my book to see what it has to say about the place - and would find out nothing, or maybe one line of text.You will never have this situation if you travel in Macedonia with Evans' little guidebook. The country is small enough, and the author is thorough enough, to cover everything down to quite a few villages of some tourist importance. The maps, too, are eminently readable and fairly detailed.The first third of the book (about 120 pages out of 376) is dedicated to general information about the country, both of practical and historical / cultural nature. So even if you have not read anything else about Macedonia, this book will give you quite a bit of background on topics going in all directions: from Alexander the Great to the Ilinden Uprising, from the local wine grape varieties to the typical composition of a Macedonian folk ensemble, from a near-complete train schedule for the entire country (it fits into two pages) to the distinction between the geodetic models of the earth ("datums") used by British and former Yugoslav topographic maps.As with many travel books, there is a glossary in the back, which, interestingly, gives "equal time" to the country's two main languages: Macedonian and Albanian (widely spoken in the northwest of the country). It is somewhat minimal, though, for a book that's otherwise so thorough; I would expect, for example, a wider coverage of the names of foods and produce commonly sold in farmers' markets. (This is one place where some knowledge of the local language often comes handy!)The author seems to have updated the book regularly, but some changes have happened even since the last edition (2012) appeared. For example, now there is apparently a regular bus between the Skopje Airport and the city; look up "Vardar Express" on the Internet for schedules and fares (about $3).Overall, if I had an itinerary that only covered Macedonia, and only had space for one book in my luggage, this is the one I would take.

Once again the Bradt Guide has been inspiring, accurate and encouraging and never boring. As an experienced leader of Christian holidays and pilgrimages it opened one or two new doors to me concerning the spread of christianity in that small but fascinating land which has so much to offer. I long to take another group, perhaps one spring-time, for the national parks and Lake Ohrid will, I`m sure, be even more stunning.

It is the best Bradt guide I have purchased so far. I travelled extensively around the Macedonia and I found this book useful, especially because there are not many source of information in the country itself (no tourist offices for example).I gave 4 stars and not 5 because it needs to but updated, especially but not only about prices.

I've been using Lonely planet but they don't have one specifically for Macedonia, so I bought Bradt for my trip. It's my first time using Bradt, and I found it much harder to use (in terms of layout, format, etc) compared to LP. Will not purchase this brand again.

Best guide to Macedonia I know of - of course, almost the only one, as well. I dont share her enthusiasm for cheap and cheerful accommodation or excitement about sporting opportunities, but thats just me!

This is a useful book which provides a history of Macedonia and a cultural context, information about what to see and why...