Crossing the Macedonian, Albanian, Kosovo triangle on a $35/day budget is completely realistic and I want to show the actual itinerary.

Skopje, North Macedonia: 3 nights at a hostel dorm ($9/night), meals mostly from the old bazaar area and Bit Pazar market ($8/day food), day trip to Matka Canyon by bus ($3 round trip). Daily average: $22.

Prizren, Kosovo: 2 nights ($10/night guesthouse with private room — Kosovo is genuinely cheap), food around $7/day. Kosovo is the cheapest country in Europe and almost nobody goes there. The old town in Prizren is beautiful. Daily average: $27.

Tirana, Albania: 3 nights ($8/night hostel dorm at Freddy's Hostel, which is excellent), day trip to Berat ($6 return bus), food averaging $9/day. The Blloku neighborhood has affordable cafés and the bunker museum is $1.50. Daily average: $25.

Total for 8 days: approximately $200. Buses between all three cities cost $5-10 each and run regularly. The whole region gets a fraction of the tourist traffic of Croatia or Slovenia and is genuinely rewarding.