The town lies near the Deve Bair national border crossing with Bulgaria, as such, there is constant heavy traffic passing through the main road which bisects the two sides of the town (Deve Bair is considered the main border crossing between Macedonia and Bulgaria because it links the capitals Skopje with Sofia).
This border crossing is the most relaxed since the other two largely link the capitals and the larger cities, and it is also the only crossing point situated on a plain; the other two - Deve Bair (Kriva Palanka-Kyustendil) and Lisichkovo (Delčevo-Blagoevgrad) - are situated at the peaks of mountains.
Smederevska Palanka | Kriva Palanka | Bela Palanka | Kriva Bara, Vratsa Province |
According to Serbian authors, after the Treaty of San Stefano, the populations of the counties of Kumanovo, Skopje, Kriva Palanka, Kratovo, Kyustendil, Kočani, Strumica, Probištip, Veles, Debar, Kičevo and Prilep sent deputations and appeals to Prince Milan of Serbia, imploring him to not abandon Macedonia to the Bulgarians and to assign the region to Serbia.