Tetovo is one of those cities where you can really feel North Macedonia's cultural mosaic. Albanian-majority, bustling and full of character, it spreads out at the foot of the imposing Šar Mountains, in the Polog region. Its great treasure is the Painted Mosque (Šarena Džamija), a 15th-century gem covered from top to bottom in thousands of brightly coloured floral and geometric motifs, unique in the region and probably in the world.
A short walk from the centre, by the river, stands another exceptional monument: the Arabati Baba tekke, one of the best-preserved Bektashi dervish complexes in Europe, with its pavilions, gardens and fountains. And above the city rise the Šar Mountains and the Popova Šapka resort, a natural balcony for hiking in summer and skiing in winter.
This guide takes Tetovo at an easy pace: how to get there from Skopje, what to see at the Painted Mosque and the tekke, how much admission and transport cost in denars, and how to head up to the Šar Mountains and Popova Šapka. Authentic, colourful and often overlooked, Tetovo is one of the most interesting day trips in the north of the country.
Tetovo grew up along the Pena river, at the foot of the Šar Mountains, at a crossroads of the Polog region. In Ottoman times it developed as a commercial and spiritual centre: its two great monuments date from this period, the Painted Mosque (founded in 1438 by two sisters, Hurshida and Mensure, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1833 by Abdurrahman Pasha) and the Arabati Baba tekke, a Bektashi dervish complex whose site goes back to 1538 and whose current buildings date mostly from the 18th century. An Albanian-majority city, Tetovo saw inter-ethnic tensions during the 2001 conflict, which was resolved by the Ohrid Agreement, and today it is an important university and economic centre of north-western Macedonia. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The country's political heart: the capital on the Vardar, the Albanian city of Tetovo at the foot of the mountains and the mining town of Kratovo, tucked away in a volcanic crater.
Read the history of Skopje and the north →They depart from Prizren, 30 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Tetovo was born and grew up in a privileged spot: the fertile Polog plain, watered by the Pena river and sheltered by the bulk of the Šar Mountains, which rise abruptly to the west to almost 2,750 metres. That mix of fertile land, plentiful water and grazing country in the mountains meant the valley was settled from very early times, at the crossroads of routes linking the Balkan interior with the Adriatic and the Vardar valley.
Popular tradition explains the town's name with a legend: a shepherd or warrior called Teto supposedly gave rise to the place name, although linguists link it instead to old Slavic roots. What is certain is that in the Middle Ages, first under Byzantine rule and later under Serbian rule, there was a Christian settlement here tied to the Orthodox Church. Traces of it survive in the monasteries around the town, such as nearby Lešok, which has medieval roots.
For centuries, life in Polog revolved around farming in the valley and herding in the Šar, mountains of shepherds and cheesemakers where the famous Šar cheese is still made today. It was a rural frontier society, in a region fought over by the medieval Balkan states, and it would change deeply with the arrival of a new power from the East: the Ottoman Empire, which would leave its most visible and lasting mark on Tetovo.
With the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, between the late 14th and early 15th centuries, Tetovo (Kalkandelen to the Turks) became part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries. Under Ottoman rule the town grew into a trading centre and, above all, a notable spiritual centre of Balkan Islam. Its two best-known monuments still date from that time.
The first is the Painted Mosque (Šarena Džamija). According to tradition, it was founded in 1438, in the early Ottoman period, by two sisters, Hurshida and Mensure, whose mausoleums still stand within the grounds. Almost four centuries later, in 1833, it was rebuilt and enlarged by Abdurrahman Pasha, the local governor, giving it its present appearance. What makes it unique is its decoration: the outside and inside are entirely covered in thousands of floral, geometric and landscape motifs painted in bright colours. This is very unusual in the region's Islamic architecture, and the mosque has become the town's emblem.
The second great monument is the Arabati Baba tekke (Harabati Baba Teḱe), a dervish complex of the Bektashi order. The Bektashis are a mystical Sufi brotherhood known for their tolerance and syncretism, and they were very influential in the Ottoman Balkans. The site goes back to 1538, and the present buildings (wooden pavilions, sleeping quarters, a communal kitchen, a tower and mausoleums, all set among gardens and fountains) date mostly from the 18th century, when Rexhep Pasha was its patron. It is considered one of the best-preserved tekkes in Europe and an exceptional record of spiritual life in Ottoman Macedonia.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, as Ottoman power weakened, the region went through its own cultural awakening. Kiril Pejčinović (c. 1771-1845) is closely linked to Tetovo. He was a monk, writer and teacher born in the Polog area, and he is considered one of the founding figures of literature in the Macedonian vernacular. His grave is in the Lešok monastery, a few kilometres from the town. His work, written in a language close to everyday speech, is a milestone in the cultural revival of the South Slavic peoples under Ottoman rule.
The long Ottoman era ended with the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, when the Christian states of the region drove the Ottomans out of almost all of Europe. Tetovo and the rest of Vardar Macedonia became part of the Kingdom of Serbia and, after the First World War, of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which became Yugoslavia in 1929. These were decades of shifting borders and national tensions in a region with a mixed population of Macedonians, Albanians and Turks, where each state tried to impose its own version of history.
After the Second World War, Tetovo became part of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, one of the six republics of Tito's Yugoslavia. Under the socialist regime the town grew, became partly industrialised and kept its multi-ethnic character, with a large and growing Albanian population. During the Yugoslav period the Arabati Baba tekke was confiscated and partly turned into a tourist and hotel complex. This changed its original religious role and sowed disputes that would resurface decades later.
When Yugoslavia broke up, Macedonia declared independence peacefully in 1991. As the country's main Albanian-majority town, Tetovo became a centre of that community's demands for greater cultural, linguistic and educational rights. In the 1990s the town was a flashpoint over the creation of an Albanian-language university, which was not officially recognised at the time and led to a standoff with the state authorities.
The tension boiled over in 2001, when the inter-ethnic conflict between the Macedonian state and the Albanian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (UÇK) spread to the Tetovo region and its mountains. There was armed fighting in the Šar and around the town, along with episodes of violence and mistrust between the communities. The Lešok monastery, the area's Orthodox symbol, was damaged by an explosion in one of the most painful episodes of the conflict. The war was short but dangerous. It ended that same year with the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which significantly expanded minority rights, including official use of Albanian in areas where Albanians make up more than a set share of the population, and kept Macedonia from following the tragic path of other Yugoslav republics.
Since then, Tetovo has enjoyed a period of stability and growth. Its universities, the State University of Tetovo and South East European University, have made it an important educational centre, young and lively. The Arabati Baba tekke has been restored, although its use is still disputed between different religious communities. Today Tetovo is a lively, multicultural town, proud of its Painted Mosque and its tekke. In 21st-century, European-facing North Macedonia, it looks to the future without giving up its rich and complex Ottoman, Orthodox and Balkan heritage.
