The Hotel Arka is really well organised, clean and offer valuable services. The staff is ready to solve all your problems and the location is good being very near to downtown and to the covered market. Fantastic breakfasts having a 360 degree look to the city.

Stayed here during a city break to Skopje. Hotel is in a great location, right next to the old town, and a short walk to the Stone Bridge, Macedonia Square, etc. Okay, so its 5-star rating isn't comparable with the scale we're used to in western Europe, but nevertheless, this is a clean, well-appointed hotel. Rooms have all the usual amenities (although note that the lights are controlled by a remote control - when entering your room at night, locate it BEFORE you close the room door behind you!!). There's a buffet breakfast inlcuded in the rate - nothing special, but a good selection (and a great view from the top floor pool bar where it's served). Didn't sample any of the other facilities, but if I found myself in Skopje again, would I stay here? Yes!

Arka is the only mid-range/verging on top-end place in Skopje that's located not among the soulless concrete blocks of the Soviet-era new city but on the other side of the river where the oriental, Osman-era core of the city is located. This means you have bazaars, mosques, medresas and a citadel right outside your door - a qonderful setting to finish off a great holiday (as in our case). Amenities are average for the price, service is super-friendly, but the undoubted highlight is, as many have said before me, the breakfast room with its rooftop terrace and the fantastic views over Skopje and surroundings - truly majestic!

Ok, a lot of reviews underline the hotel's location, supposed to be in a weird or unpleasant area of town. So I was on my guard upon our arrival at the hotel. I would say that the hotel is certainly located in the most typical part of town, surrounded by mosques and old low buildings. One of the reviewers mentionned he didn't enjoy being stared at whenever he would get to or leave the hotel. I believe this "staring" by the locals is just a mark of interest, I never felt it to be aggressive in any way. Other areas of Skopje are, in my opinion, less interesting and perhaps more dangerous than the Old Town around Bitpazarska.
The hotel is very modern, and very easy to spot from just about anywhere in the city.(makes it easy to find your way back) It is very close to remains of the city walls and numerous points of interest including Mosques, small shops, local markets, museums, restaurants and food joints. As stated in other reviews please hold on to your wallet and valuables upon crossing the Stonebridge, where young pickpockets operate, sometimes quite aggressively. Fortunately, one of the hotel's plusses is that it offers in-room individual safes (at least my room - 606 -had one).
My room was fairly big, with all the usual amenities expected in an upper class hotel, including toothbrush and toothpaste, a fairly rare find even in luxury hotels. Employees were talkative and courteous and most of them spoke very good English. Breakfast is very good, with Ajvar (local specialty) and other specialties available, as well as standard ""western" food.
From what I have seen, there are several parking spaces in front of the hotel.
The negative points include a pool that is only "decorative" as one of the employee told us, and this is somewhat deceptive, considering what's shown on the hotel's website. Also in my room, the bedcover was not spotless, with a few stains. But overall, the room was clean.
Too bad the hotel doesn't have a restaurant.
A final word for Ohrid. If you have a day, go there. It's 170 km away from Skopje, and well worth the trip.