eSIM North Macedonia
North Macedonia on a data-only eSIM in the A1 network: 1 to 5 GB for 7 to 30 days, prepaid and without a contract, so you are online the minute you land in Skopje.
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for North Macedonia?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Set it up at home
The QR code arrives by email. Scan it once or tap the link, and the eSIM sits in your phone as a second line next to your normal card. There is no APN to type in anywhere. You can install it days in advance – the clock only starts with your first connection in the country.
Switch it on when you arrive
Whether you land at Skopje International Airport (SKP) in Petrovec, arrive at St. Paul the Apostle Airport (OHD) near Ohrid, or cross the land border by bus from Pristina, Sofia, Thessaloniki or Tirana: set the eSIM as your data line in the settings and turn data roaming on for that line. After a minute or two, A1 appears on your screen.
Stay online on the road
The hotspot is allowed, so you can share with a laptop or a travel companion. When your data runs low you top up at any time, with nothing to reinstall. Your usual phone number stays active alongside it – for WhatsApp, Viber and the call back from the taxi driver or your host.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in North Macedonia?
The eSIM connects to the A1 network by itself – there is nothing for you to set up.
Half of all mobile speed tests in the country come out above this, half below. Speedtest Global Index, July 2026. There are no separate figures per network for this country.
North Macedonia has two nationwide mobile networks: A1 and Makedonski Telekom, which many people still call T-Mobile. Your eSIM runs on the A1 network and connects there automatically once you switch it on – switching to the other operator is not possible on this plan. There is no APN to type in anywhere, you only have to leave data roaming switched on for that line – without it the eSIM stays silent even when everything else is set up correctly. If your network selection is set to manual and stuck on the wrong entry, set it back to automatic and toggle airplane mode off and on.
In Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Bitola, Prilep, Štip and Strumica, and around Ohrid and Struga, you can normally count on solid 4G – plan for that, because whether a foreign eSIM also gets 5G depends on the network and on your phone and is not guaranteed. Away from the towns it thins out: in Mavrovo National Park, up on Popova Šapka, in Pelister above Bitola and in Galičica between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa, the signal drops on slopes and in valleys. Even in Matka Canyon just outside Skopje there is no reception everywhere down in the gorge. Download the offline map of the region before you head up.
eSIM or a local SIM card in North Macedonia?
| Compared | Simbye eSIM | Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | QR code from your email, done at home | Find a shop or kiosk on the spot and queue up |
| ID | Not needed | Passport needed, prepaid cards are registered in your name here |
| Online after arrival | Within a minute or two | Only after opening hours, a queue and registration |
| Payment | Up front with your card, in your currency | On the spot in denar, often in cash |
| Phone number | None, data only | Macedonian number with calls and SMS |
| Your usual number | Stays active, WhatsApp and Viber keep working | Takes the SIM slot, with only one slot your card comes out |
| Topping up | Any time on the road, no new eSIM | Credit at a kiosk, menus mostly in Macedonian |
| If something goes wrong | Support by email, no trip back into town | Back to the shop, usually in Macedonian or Albanian |
Your home contract, a makedonya sim kart or an eSIM – what North Macedonia actually costs you
For most mobile contracts North Macedonia counts as abroad, and abroad means the price is not in your tariff but in the small print. Some operators bill per megabyte, others sell day passes, others again only unlock data roaming once you confirm a text message. What they have in common is that you cannot see it beforehand and can see it very clearly on the bill afterwards. That is exactly why so many travellers just switch data off at Skopje airport and hunt for Wi-Fi for two days – and miss the bus tickets, the taxi app and the map they actually needed.
The second option is the card from a shop. It is real and it works, you just do not pay for it in money alone: prepaid cards in North Macedonia are registered in your name, so you need your passport, an open shop and denar in your pocket. Landing in Petrovec at 11 pm, that stops being an option. The third option is this eSIM: paid in advance in your own currency, set up in advance, no contract, no registration. It does not give you a phone number and does not pretend to – it gives you the data, while your usual number stays active alongside it.
Where the network reaches – and where it does not
North Macedonia is small but mountainous, and that is what decides your signal. Along the Skopje – Tetovo – Gostivar – Ohrid axis, down the Vardar valley towards Veles, Negotino and Gevgelija, and in Bitola, Prilep, Štip, Strumica and Kumanovo, the network is well built out. In Ohrid's old town, along the lakeshore to Struga, in Skopje's Old Bazaar and around the bus station you will have no trouble. The road from the airport into the city is covered the whole way too.
It looks different the moment you go up. On Popova Šapka above Tetovo, in the valleys of Mavrovo National Park, in Pelister above Bitola, in Galičica between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa and across parts of the Šar mountains there are dead zones, sometimes for several kilometres at a stretch. The same goes for sections of Matka Canyon and for small villages in the east towards Berovo and Delčevo. That is not one operator being weak, it is geography – a local card from a shop would have the same gaps. In practice: save your route and your map offline before you head uphill, and do not plan a hike around having a signal at the top.
Two things worth knowing beforehand
If you buy a prepaid card inside the country it is registered in your name – which is why the assistant in the A1 or Telekom shop puts a form in front of you and asks for your passport. None of that applies to this eSIM. It travels as a guest on the Macedonian network: no registration, no signature, no office to visit. What it cannot do, we will say just as plainly: no Macedonian phone number, no calls and no SMS over the network. Anything that needs an SMS code is better set up before you leave.
And if you are arriving from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro or Serbia, you may not need us at all: since July 2021 those countries and North Macedonia share a regional roaming agreement, so your home contract bills at domestic rates here. For you the eSIM only pays off if your allowance is tight or you plan to lean on the hotspot. For everyone else – from Türkiye, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States – roaming stays the expensive small print.
Your eSIM in North Macedonia at a glance
- Networks
- A1 Macedonia + T-Mobile Macedonia
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Roaming on your home contract gets billed here — this eSIM is prepaid, so nothing is added afterwards
Frequently Asked Questions about North Macedonia eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
