Queues: North Macedonia–Greece border today

About the border: North Macedonia–Greece border

The border between North Macedonia and Greece is an external border of the EU and the Schengen area. Greece belongs to both, North Macedonia to neither, so every crossing involves full clearance – Macedonian on exit and Greek on entry, with passport and customs checks. For many drivers from Poland this is the last border of the Balkan route before the Aegean coast.

The page lists three crossings. Bogorodica–Evzoni is the main crossing on the motorway from Skopje to Thessaloniki and takes most tourist and transit traffic; our data suggests the queue towards Greece is usually longest here. Star Dojran–Doirani lies on Lake Dojran, east of the main route, and Medžitlija–Niki is south of Bitola on the road to Florina. Both smaller crossings are usually noticeably calmer, although reaching them means leaving the motorway.

Traffic towards Greece peaks at the start of the summer holidays and on summer weekends, and in the opposite direction at the end of the season. It also gets busier around public holidays, including Orthodox Easter, when many people visit family on both sides. On entry into Greece goods in your luggage are checked too – EU allowances apply, for example to cigarettes and alcohol – so plan any shopping in North Macedonia accordingly.

Before travelling, check that your passport or ID card is valid, make sure your insurance covers North Macedonia (for example with a green card), and be ready for motorway tolls in both countries. If there is a long queue at Evzoni and you are heading for the Kilkis area, compare times with Dojran; for western Greece, Medžitlija is often more convenient.

When to go

Border queues are usually shortest at night, roughly between 01:00 and 05:00, and longest in the evening and at weekends. In the holiday season the Balkan-route peak falls on Saturdays. Check the live figures above before setting off.