International Palace

We return every year because the food is delicious and the staff are so friendly. The hotel is beautiful and right in the city center. The jacuzzi room is spacious and luxurious, and I’d recommend it to everyone.

The room was beautifully decorated, clean, and smelled of room perfume. Finding it took some effort since we had to make our own way there, but once I got in the elevator, the numbers made it clear which floor to go to. We arrived in the evening. Someone answered the bell and opened the ramp, then my wife, the children, and I went to reception. We barely managed to understand one another in Albanian. At breakfast the next day, we got by with the waiter, who treated us nicely, and the hot breakfast was delicious. When we checked out, a smiling girl greeted us at reception, though she didn’t pay much attention to us. I then realized we hadn’t understood each other in Albanian.

There’s plenty to choose from, and the Pastrmajlija is okay. The dining room is very dark, with a black interior that feels kind of depressing. The toilets are too.

We’ve stopped at this hotel several times in recent years while traveling to our destination. The rooms are spacious and now come with slippers, which I appreciate, but they could be cleaner and are due for renovation. The doors don’t seal, and the air conditioning is too loud. Its fan starts far too fast on the lowest setting. In most hotels, the air conditioning should be practically inaudible. The price is 50 percent higher than it was in 2022. We reserved a parking space behind the ramp, which is handy, but the lot is very small, just enough for seven to nine vehicles. The receptionist didn’t speak English well enough, and Croatian wasn’t an option either, while we don’t speak Macedonian. There’s a strong smell of smoke in the dining room, and breakfast has really gone downhill. Morning service is very slow: coffee took ten minutes and the breakfast we ordered took thirty. There were only three of us in the room when we arrived, with three more coming after us. One morning, four locals were having coffee on the outdoor terrace. A cleaning lady asked the waiter to have them move inside because she didn’t feel well around them and wanted to clean the floor. They ended up sitting next to our table, chatting, using their phones, and smoking. Veles is lively at night, with people out until the early hours. I highly recommend Oficerski 1937, where we’ve eaten several times. It’s a five-star restaurant.