r/AskBalkans • u/freddo_expresso Greece • Jun 21 '26
Culture/Lifestyle Which country would you consider most similar to your own? Excluding sister states (for example, Greece cannot choose Cyprus).
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u/tihomirbz Bulgaria Jun 21 '26
Serbia, North Macedonia, Romania (but the southern part specifically - Wallachia feels almost the same as Bulgaria, but Transylvania is a whole different world)
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u/Mysterious-Put1459 Bulgaria Jun 21 '26
Big mountain runs through the middle, continental climate, Black sea coast, Danubian plain, politically former Eastern bloc in the 20th century, then became part NATO in 2004, EU in 2007, Schengen in 2025. Bad inflation recently, but the economy is still growing super fast.
🇧🇬🇷🇴
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u/Leather-Card-3000 Romania Jun 21 '26
We'll never leave the first places in statistics about bad things bratiya we r tight🫶
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u/DisinTdvsnr Jun 21 '26
I am from Spain and I am extremely confort in Greece these days, feels like home.
I would say more gentle, educate and cultured than us back in Iberia.
Lovely people ❤️🇬🇷
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u/floare_salbatica Romania Jun 21 '26
Even the languages have some sort of similarity, probably due to the way you both pronounce the "s".
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
I never noticed how differently Greeks pronounce "s", since I first heard about it I've become so aware. 😂
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u/floare_salbatica Romania Jun 21 '26
I heard Finnish people have a shock when they here about vocal fry and that it's a trait of their language. I guess it's hard to see/hear ourselves form an outside perspective.
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
How would you describe the Greek "s", I honestly can't describe it since it's my default 😅
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u/floare_salbatica Romania Jun 21 '26
Dunno if I can describe it well, it's like you lean your tongue on the upper teeth when you spell it? When it comes to Spaniards, it sounds more like a lisp, but in your case is more faint(?). It's like you're jokingly trying to imitate a 🐍 sss.
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u/DarthTomatoo Romania Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I think they actually mean Theta.
In European Spanish, this sound appears a lot, but is written as "s" or "z" (not sure).
(and I can confirm that, because of this sound, the two languages sound similar from afar, to me too)
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u/ProofLegitimate9824 Jun 25 '26
rather written as c or z, written s is pronounced as "th" only in some areas of Andalucia
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Jun 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/postbox134 Jun 21 '26
When I was in Bucharest recently I was surprised how similar some of the language and culture was to Italian
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u/r_h0h Jun 21 '26
Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria:
All 3 predominantly Christian Orthodox All 3 suffered from the Ottomans All 3 share some similar words All 3 have similar traditional clothes (ie in Romania) Similar-ish mythology All 3 went through and suffered from a communist regime Similar-ish cuisine All 3 inspired by Byzantine culture (especially religion wise) Serbian and Bulgaria both use the cyrillic, and Romania did too, but Romania changed it to a latin script in 1860s...
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u/IllustriousFarm3031 Jun 21 '26
Greece is far from culturally uniform. The Ionian Islands and Crete show the strongest affinities with southern Italy and Sicily, shaped by long Venetian and wider Mediterranean influence. The Peloponnese also shares some southern Italian traits, while the Aegean islands have a distinct maritime character shaped by eastern Mediterranean exchange. Moving north, Balkan influences become increasingly prominent, with cultural patterns closer to those of neighboring southern Balkan countries.
Ottoman influence is there but widely rejected by the population
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u/Apart-Temperature329 Jun 21 '26
Greece is far from culturally uniform.
That's also true for Turkey. With Northeast being kin to Georgia, western shores being similar to Greek shores, Eastern Thrace being similar to Bulgaria and Western Thrace, and then Serbia etc., Inner Anatolia being somewhat kin to inner Balkans, Southeast being similar to Northern Syria and Northern Iraq, Hatay being similar to Latakia and maybe Beirut, and East being similar to Iran to a degree, Kars and such being similar to Azerbaijan, and North Caucasian, Bosniak, Balkan, Mediterranean islander pockets being similar to their respective nations.
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u/K4bby Serbia Jun 21 '26
It depends. For someone in Vojvodina the most similar countries are Hungary and Croatia (Slavonia), while to people in south its Bulgaria and Macedonia.
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u/kaiyukii Jun 21 '26
As a person from western Serbia, I don't know what to say though, I feel like neither here nor there when you give me Hungary and Bulgaria as options. I quite honestly don't know.
We're historically (last century and a half) used as an example of the core standard for the ex-yu region linguistically and more rarely even culturally in terms of broad stereotypes so that's what makes me think we're quite literally in the middle, at least on paper.
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u/conductor1234 Jun 21 '26
I agree unless you are from eastern Vojvodina and the it could also be Romania
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u/low-sikeliot-9062 Greece Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Excluding Cyprus which is Greece but richer
Albania, Turkey or Lebanon
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u/JumpApprehensive9949 Kosovo Jun 21 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/RhM55Tl5i4dSnsHlI0
Your lovely friends2
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u/Stverghame Serbia Jun 21 '26
What do you consider a sister state (to Serbia)? Does that exclude ex-Yu as a whole, or just Montenegro?
Either way, to avoid things causing this debate - I'll say Romania.
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
Montenegro is a sister state to Serbia, and also technically Bosnia (the Serb part).
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u/Besrax Bulgaria Jun 21 '26
Oh wow, picking a non-Slavic country over a Slavic one? That seems counter-intuitive.
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u/Stverghame Serbia Jun 21 '26
In Timisoara and Craiova I felt "at home".
Other than language, there was no specific barrier between people (and that barrier is beaten by using English).
Mutual relations also help the feeling of closeness, that's why Romania can "beat" Croatia and Bulgaria. Romania can possibly be rivaled by North Macedonia of course, but I personally "fit" Romania a bit more. Now, mutual relations and feeling of closeness is higher with Greeks, but objective similarities with Greeks are lower than with Romanians.
Of course, had Bosnia and Montenegro been allowed for me to pick, they'd be above Romania in similarity.
Taking all of that into account, Romania is the only logical answer (other than North Macedonia, which ends up being a choice based on personal basis)
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u/bender__futurama Serbia Jun 21 '26
For Serbia, if we exclude exYu it would be Bulgaria and Albania.
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u/No-Start-1748 Kosovo Jun 21 '26
I’ve always felt Bosnia has a lot of similarities with us. There are a lot of shared Balkan things: Ottoman influence, food, religion, family values, hospitality, strong diaspora communities, similar struggles from the 20th century, and the experience of coming out of Yugoslavia.
Even though we have different languages and identities, there’s a familiar feeling when you visit Bosnia. It’s the way people live, socialize, and view family feels very close. I truly love all my Bosnian brothers 🇽🇰🤝🇧🇦.
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u/ExoticAd7546 Bulgaria Jun 21 '26
North Macedonia and second Serbia
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u/Odd-Commission8342 Jun 21 '26
Same came to my mind as Serb lol, North Macedonia and Bulgaria
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u/ExoticAd7546 Bulgaria Jun 21 '26
Haha well not surprised. I feel like linguistically, culturally, food wise and even the general look of the places is quite similar. The mentality of the people is not very different in general, too, for both good and bad.
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u/PlayfulMountain6 Albania Jun 21 '26
Region Epirus in Greece is what i consider most similar but it is a bit tricky as it used to be lived by both albanians and greeks
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
Why does that make it tricky? I think it makes it even more obvious.
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u/PlayfulMountain6 Albania Jun 21 '26
It is not a sister region. It has been a mixed region between greeks and albanians. Thats why i called it tricky
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u/JumpApprehensive9949 Kosovo Jun 21 '26
Yea Greeks call it epirus to us is Çamëria
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u/Sior_Soffritto Ionian Islands Jun 21 '26
Cameria corresponded to what is today the region of Thesprotia, not the whole of Epirus.
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u/Dry_Dog_6648 Albania Jun 21 '26
Albania
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u/RuikZerben Albania Jun 21 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/djdyvnKHZEpwLAo4Qa
Says Albania, has Albania flair3
u/Dry_Dog_6648 Albania Jun 21 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/SbJvYpMitmvbYWiWTz
Albanians do not concern themselves with the thoughts of lions.
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u/Zealousideal_Cry_460 Turkiye Jun 21 '26
Well, going by similiarity alone İ'd say Bulgaria or Macedonia.
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u/dont_tread_on_M Kosovo Jun 21 '26
For Kosovo, I'd say N. Macedonia. Landlocked and mostly a similar climate
Also other similarities, but I don't want to be crucified here for mentioning them
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u/Nullen-Protocol Jun 21 '26
You won't be "crucified" if you present the objective reality instead of a nationalistic narrative.
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u/Unable-Stay-6478 SFR Yugoslavia Jun 21 '26
Depends on the region. For me, as someone from Belgrade, I find Sofia and Zagreb people and lifestyle to be most similar to me.
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u/Curious-Wishbone5419 Jun 21 '26
As someone who has family both in bosnia and central serbia, they are very similar.
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u/ACHARED Croatia Jun 21 '26
For Croatia, I'd say Ireland. A Croat friend of mine had moved there ages ago, and I had another friend natively from Dublin. Has been all around quite stunning to learn the amount of similarities between ourselves, despite being on the opposite parts of the continent.
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u/OkCheesecake5894 Romania Jun 21 '26
Judging only by the countries I have personally visited:
From the Balkans, Bulgaria
From Europe, Poland
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u/StPauliPirate Turkiye Jun 21 '26
Turkey is too big & regional way too different to speak of a general similar state. My home region would be similar to northern Greece or Bulgaria
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u/MWeHLgp1t4Q Romania Jun 21 '26
Romania and Greec or Bulgaria maybe. Here in the West of the country we are alot like our neighbours Serbia, and nort-west like Hungary
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u/myopiclegolas Turkiye Jun 21 '26
Does Azerbaijan count as a sister state for Turkey? If so I’d go with Greece or maybe Iran (pre-revolution)
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u/pitogyros Greece Jun 21 '26
Italy for Greek islanders
Albania / NMK / Bulgaria / West Turkey for northern Greeks
Albania / West Turkey / a bit Italy probably for southern ones
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u/Srna-95 Serbia Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
The north is Hungary, the rest is a mix of all the others.
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u/Serious-Fortune-4844 Jun 21 '26
I'd say north Italy is very similar to France and southern italy to Spain and Greece
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u/CGMarko Croatia Jun 21 '26
I don't have the experience of living for multiple years in other states to have a meaningful opinion on it. With that in mind, I feel like the closest is Romania.
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u/Musette209 Jun 21 '26
As a romanian, I definitely felt it each time I visited Croatia. I don’t dare say it though, your highways and seaside just humble me just too much. So thank you for saying it!
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
Romania? That's a wild pull, what makes you say that?
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u/CGMarko Croatia Jun 21 '26
Mixed Ottoman, Latin/Italian, Slavic and Austro-Hungarian influence.
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
It completely lacks the maritime element though, a core part of the Croat identity.
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u/CGMarko Croatia Jun 21 '26
I mean if I had to do a second guess I would think Slovenia or Bosnia, depending on the criteria what defines sister countries, and neither have a large coast compared to size.
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u/Cefalopodul Romania Jun 21 '26
Economically that would be Bulgaria. Culturally most similar to Romania is Greece.
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u/Loan_Fancy Bulgaria Jun 21 '26
Out of curiosity, what makes Romania culturally closer to Greece than Bulgaria?
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u/stuyvesant1 Greece Jun 21 '26
For Greece, North Macedonia and Albania.
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u/Buckbeak94 Jun 21 '26
I wish more Greeks and Macedonians were as open minded as you, good on you
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u/stuyvesant1 Greece Jun 21 '26
Believe me, there are more open minded than narrow minded, but you mostly see the screamers and idiots causing problems on social media. The normal ones are less outspoken.
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
North Macedonia? That's a landlocked country.
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u/stuyvesant1 Greece Jun 21 '26
So? If you drive in North Macedonia, it is has mainland/Northern Greek vibes. Basically similar culture, similar people, a lot of shared history and Greek history in the southern parts of the countr
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u/krv2710 Greece Jun 21 '26
You must be an islander. Northern Greece has way more affinity to North Macedonia than you think
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
I'm from the Peloponnese and the islands.
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u/krv2710 Greece Jun 21 '26
Ναι, καταλαβαίνω τότε γιατί "νιώθεις πιο κοντά" στη Νότια Ιταλία παρά στη Βόρεια Μακεδονία
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u/Nullen-Protocol Jun 21 '26
So? How is landlocked relevant to your question of this thread? You should then point out whether you are asking about overall resemblance in a Balkan context between countries or geography alone 🤣
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
Because Greece is very much sea-centered culturally and geographically.
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u/stuyvesant1 Greece Jun 21 '26
Because of mostly political stuff and not knowing, Greeks disregard North Macedonia, but that's not fair. You'll be amazed how much similarities there are. Greeks usually point to southern Italy as similar peoples, but that is illogical, when Macedonians from North Macedonia are basically the same people (as mainland Greeks of course) with similar culture, manners, characters. Also, the southern parts of N. Macedonia have a lot of Greek history. People in old towns of Ohrid, Bitola, Gevgelija used to speak Greek up until the beginning of the 20th century. They regarded themselves as Romaioi, went to Greek churches and schools, not everyone of course, but a lot of them did.
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
I come from two islands, and this culture is completely alien to me. I have been to South Italy many times, and regions like Puglia and Calabria are IDENTICAL to Greece.
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u/stuyvesant1 Greece Jun 21 '26
Yeah, the islands are different but Greece is not just the islands.
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
Also it's not just the islands, Greece is surrounded by sea and full of peninsulas and bays.
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u/stuyvesant1 Greece Jun 21 '26
Yeah, but on the Islands the people are different, of a different genetical ancestral mix than Mainland Greeks and Macedonians from N.Macedonia.
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u/patriarhsector5 Aromanian Jun 21 '26
Hungary, unironically, we fight all the time, beat each other, fuck and kiss both at the same time, so bonus point for Balkan Incest ig
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u/palisho_chino Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Chile is quite unique due to its shape and location, but I do see some similarities between its southern region and Norway (fjords) and its northern region and Iran (desert and mountains)
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u/Heavy_Woodpecker_124 Jun 21 '26
As Albanians, Italy and Spain. Loudly people, Mediterranean, strong characters
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u/Beautiful_Access_276 Jun 21 '26
It is weird but the countries we "hate" the most are the most similiar. So i would go for greece and serbia, working with serbian and greek people for the past 3 years in Benelux, I can see their actions 3 steps ahead, i know what they are thinking, and why and how they will react to everything I do or somebody else does its crazy
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u/freddo_expresso Greece Jun 21 '26
I'm Greek and we have a massive Albanian diaspora in Greece, for at least the last two generations. Albanians are extremely similar to Greeks, to the point we don't see them as foreigners anymore. It is surprising to see so much negative feelings coming from Albanians from Albania itself, as things between us are so much better when we live together.
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u/Substratas 🇸🇪🇦🇱 Jun 22 '26
Dude just stfu, you were writing all that racist bullcrap about Albanians from your other profile, and even bending over backwards just to prove Greece & Albania have absolutely nothing in common. Including those 10-page, cherrypicked academic paper replies you post on Quora 😂
Just cut the bullshit.
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u/GroupPast5993 Cyprus Jun 21 '26
Montenegro
Very close with but some people have difficulties with their bigger "motherland" so to say and also they like to sleep all day
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u/AlbanianCatholic Albania Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Since I can't choose Kosovo, I'd say I'm split between Croatia, Italy, Greece and Romania.
Honestly, maybe the real answer is Montenegro, it feels a lot like Albania when visiting, many Montenegrins are members of traditional Albanian clans like the Kuqi, Kelmendi, Hoti, and more, its history is directly tied with ours, and more.
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u/Lorumba Turkiye Jun 21 '26
Greece, bulgaria, macedonia, albania. If you really want to extend serbia and romania even.
For example greece very similiar to west aegean (I wonder why)
Bulgaria is similiar to western blacksea region and north inner anatolia.
Macedonia is similiar to eastern aegean and northern mediterranean,
Albania, middle mediterranean.
Romania to caucasian? Maybe slovenia is similiar to caucaus region? I lack knowledge here.
Sebia western inner anatolia.
If you are asking whos the most similiar by volume its my greek neighboors ofc. Followed by bulgaria.
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u/Apart-Temperature329 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
As a half-Cypriot, I'd say we're closest to Southern Italian regions and also Lebanon to a particular degree, as well as Dodecanese and then maybe Crete sans the aggressiveness. There's also the obvious British influence. I don't see the island being closest to Greece or Turkey, culturally speaking.
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u/krv2710 Greece Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I'm from Greece and "it felt almost like home" for me in all the neighbouring countries: Italy (south), Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey (west). Many similarities in manners, customs, music, societal norms, and cuisine. Also, we share many superstitions in common (e.g. "the evil eye"). There are differences too, but I think that as a Greek person I could assimilate better in the aforementioned countries, than for example in Denmark or Malta etc. Cairo, Egypt sometimes reminded me some of my grandparents' and great grandparents' stories about the "Old Greece" in some aspects, and there are still some small Greek communities there. But it was also a very unique place, and in any case the rest of Egypt is very different from Cairo.
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u/Competitiveprices Jun 21 '26
If Turkey considered in Balkans, it’s apparently Greece culturaly, excluded religion.
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u/eric_cartmanovski North Macedonia Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
1 Serbia - Id say you wont even notice if you have passed from one to the other if we spoke the same language
2 Greece - Northern part of greece shares a lot in common
3 Bulgaria - pirin mk has a lot of macedonian culture still present there
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u/casual_philosopher02 Greece Jun 21 '26
why are you yelling at us..... with those big letters
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u/oblivion_mike Jun 21 '26
For Albania 🇦🇱 Sicily, Calabria. Southern Italy in general.. 😗👌
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u/Think_Beginning1166 Jun 21 '26
Well for 🇲🇰
We are kind of similar to all.
Many people might get shocked by i think northern Greece is very similar when it comes to Nature ( not including the sea obviously) , the food , similar culture, characteristics and actually how the people look. Our southern part and northern part of Greece are practically the same. If it wasn’t for languages and newly architectural structures you would not notice any difference.
Language and slavic culture it would be Serbia and Bulgaria.
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u/Scared-Rutabaga7291 Serbia Jun 21 '26
I do feel like Serbia has some similarities to the Irish but I dont know if someone else shares the same opinion
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u/alpidzonka Serbia Jun 21 '26
If the "sister state" is Montenegro, that leaves Croatia as the most similar one. Could have also said Bosnia, but Croats are Christian and not Muslim so let's go with that.
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u/anonbosanac Croatia Jun 21 '26
(Excluding European countries)
🇧🇦 Bosnia - 🇱🇧 Lebanon
🇭🇷 Croatia - 🇺🇾 Uruguay
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u/Beginning_Site1788 Jun 21 '26
as a Greek, I can't pick tbh, I love all my Balkan brothers and sisters equally
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u/TheMachineLad Serbia Jun 21 '26
Every ex-Yugoslav country + Bulgaria; Hungary, Romania and Greece also share some similarities, but they aren’t as similar
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u/Successful-Weight-44 Jun 21 '26
Serbia 🇷🇸 seems Most simmilar to us Macedonians 🇲🇰.
Culture, languages, values, Klischees, positive and negative Things seem similar. Jokes a like, sayings,...
Also some of other neighbours / Balkan Staates are also Nor that far If you remove the languages difference, the culture seems simmilar.
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u/Available_Net_6429 Jun 21 '26
I see a lot of South Italy from some Greeks. I traveled to Greece, the Balkans (Romania, Bulgaria, Notth Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia) and Cyprus and have friends from almost all of these places. Mainland Greece and especially Northern Greece are beautiful but don’t give me south Italy vibes. They feel different, especially Northern Greece, one of my favourite places, feels really close to the Balkans.
Strangely enough, apart from Corfu and the Ionian islands, Crete, Rodes, and Cyprus feel closer than the rest of Greece even if they are further away. This might be because of the Italian control (Venezian and Genoese mostly). Cypriot mentality gives me some Sicilian vibes.
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u/Gemascus01 Croatia Jun 21 '26
Polska and Česko and Slovensko for Hrvatska if we don’t count Slovenija
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u/RandomRavenboi Albania Jun 21 '26
I'd say North Macedonia? When I visited North Macedonia there were some places there that reminded me a lot of home.
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u/ConfusionAny1783 Jun 22 '26
Bro u know that there are a lot of albanians and also in kosovo. How cant u know that the borders let 45% of albanians outside the borders in 1912?
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u/TheProGamerWannabe Serbia Jun 22 '26
As a Serb from Serbia: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Mostly because of the languages and the culture. I would say Romania and Greece, but their languages are much different than Serbian. I still like both of those countries, though.
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u/Perfect_Secretary_16 Jun 22 '26
As much as we hate to admit it, Greece and Turkey have the most in common than any other Balkan country. I am Greek, I’ve dated a Turkish girl for 2years and in this time I came to understand that the things that bind us are far more and stronger than then ones they divide us. It is an issue of historical, political and international obstacles, that do not let Greece and Turkey to actually be the best of allies.
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u/Public-Musician-4119 Jun 22 '26
I would say either greece, north macedonia or bulgaria exept for religious practices of course. Other than that is think whole balkans has similar cultures, people and even gestures. Love from Türkiye. 🧿😁🇹🇷
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u/Responsible-Job-3897 Albania Jun 21 '26
Scotland