South-Western Serbia
I went to Serbia twice. The first time I focused on a handful of cities (Belgrade, Niš and Pirot) and rapidly moved on… The second time I let natural encounters take the forefront, which resulted in me staying an entire month, unplanned. Why? Because it was much better, that’s why.
It requires a bit of an effort, as public transport perfectly connects the cities, but leaves a lot to desire when it comes to the national parks and other treasures putting Serbia truly on the map. To give an example: I once spent about 8 hours on 100km, trying to travel by local buses. However, it unquestionably is an even bigger loss of time and resources if you made it all the way to Serbia, but don’t get to experience it as you should (come on, you can’t convince me f*cking Belgrade was worth the hassle). The good news is that Serbia keeps all the goodies relatively in the same corner. Admitted, the south-eastern Stara Planina is an absolute gem and I recommend including it in your trip by all means… but if you’re stressed for time you can get away with concentrating on the south-western side, an exciting conglomeration of the most enthralling natural wealth of the biggest country of former Yugoslavia. So brave travel folks, gather: Team up to divide the cost of a rental car among 4-5 globetrotters or put on your bold hitchhike-shoes¹… you’re going west!
South-Western Serbia: The Highlights
It requires a bit of an effort, as public transport perfectly connects the cities, but leaves a lot to desire when it comes to the national parks and other treasures putting Serbia truly on the map. To give an example: I once spent about 8 hours on 100km, trying to travel by local buses. However, it unquestionably is an even bigger loss of time and resources if you made it all the way to Serbia, but don’t get to experience it as you should (come on, you can’t convince me f*cking Belgrade was worth the hassle). The good news is that Serbia keeps all the goodies relatively in the same corner. Admitted, the south-eastern Stara Planina is an absolute gem and I recommend including it in your trip by all means… but if you’re stressed for time you can get away with concentrating on the south-western side, an exciting conglomeration of the most enthralling natural wealth of the biggest country of former Yugoslavia. So brave travel folks, gather: Team up to divide the cost of a rental car among 4-5 globetrotters or put on your bold hitchhike-shoes¹… you’re going west!
South-Western Serbia: The Highlights
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Tara National Park
Tara National Park equals the highlight of Serbia for many… and also for me. It’s hard to not be impressed by this magnificent stretch of the Dinaric Alps, rich in dense forests, majestic peaks, rugged gorges, and lakes such as the famous Zaovine. The thick beech, spruce and fir woods take on 83.5% of the park, making it the greenest area of the entire country. The nickname “The Lungs of Serbia” is therefore well-deserved. Such an environment inevitably shapes the home of a great variety in wildlife, including the wolf, mink, marten, deer, wild boar, wild cat, chamois, 135 different bird species and… brown bears! Since both their species and their living environment have been placed under official protection, their numbers began to rise. More good news: No matter how wild and unspoilt the Tara area still is, under the flag of ‘national park’ it’s just domesticated enough to make it accessible for us visitors to fully enjoy its grandeur. With a total of 290km of hiking trails and bicycle paths and no less than 10 scenic viewpoints*, it’s pretty straightforward to have that one-on-one encounter with Serbia’s best nature in an adventurous, outdoorsy manner. Besides biking and hiking, there are facilities for kayaking, canyoning and rafting.
* Banjska Stena being the most visited, as it provides fantastic views over the Drina Canyon and Lake Perućac, which forms the natural border between Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. From experience I can confirm that it makes for a pretty incredible sunrise spot. Find the most prominent lookout points on the park map below (if you save the image and throw it into Google Lens, you can have the Cyrillic auto-translated).
Tara National Park equals the highlight of Serbia for many… and also for me. It’s hard to not be impressed by this magnificent stretch of the Dinaric Alps, rich in dense forests, majestic peaks, rugged gorges, and lakes such as the famous Zaovine. The thick beech, spruce and fir woods take on 83.5% of the park, making it the greenest area of the entire country. The nickname “The Lungs of Serbia” is therefore well-deserved. Such an environment inevitably shapes the home of a great variety in wildlife, including the wolf, mink, marten, deer, wild boar, wild cat, chamois, 135 different bird species and… brown bears! Since both their species and their living environment have been placed under official protection, their numbers began to rise. More good news: No matter how wild and unspoilt the Tara area still is, under the flag of ‘national park’ it’s just domesticated enough to make it accessible for us visitors to fully enjoy its grandeur. With a total of 290km of hiking trails and bicycle paths and no less than 10 scenic viewpoints*, it’s pretty straightforward to have that one-on-one encounter with Serbia’s best nature in an adventurous, outdoorsy manner. Besides biking and hiking, there are facilities for kayaking, canyoning and rafting.
* Banjska Stena being the most visited, as it provides fantastic views over the Drina Canyon and Lake Perućac, which forms the natural border between Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. From experience I can confirm that it makes for a pretty incredible sunrise spot. Find the most prominent lookout points on the park map below (if you save the image and throw it into Google Lens, you can have the Cyrillic auto-translated).
Find an overview of hikes and bicycle routes (incl. GPS Navigation) here on Wikiloc.
When I was looking for accommodation in the area of Tara National Park, I found villages such as Mokra Gora and Mitrovac which I considered “close by for exploration.” Little did I know that these small hamlets are actually located right inside of the national park itself. Besides being great bases for your Tara adventure, they are also full of unique character and radiate the type of peace you can only find when surrounded by forests and mountains.
Tara National Park for sure is my happy place in Serbia.
When I was looking for accommodation in the area of Tara National Park, I found villages such as Mokra Gora and Mitrovac which I considered “close by for exploration.” Little did I know that these small hamlets are actually located right inside of the national park itself. Besides being great bases for your Tara adventure, they are also full of unique character and radiate the type of peace you can only find when surrounded by forests and mountains.
Tara National Park for sure is my happy place in Serbia.
Tara National Park doesn’t cover an entrance fee.
Zlatibor
Is Zlatibor the most picturesque town of Serbia? No, it is not. But it is very well-serviced and in the middle of everything, so it makes for a fantastic base. Relatively nearby sights, which are accessible with your own vehicle or by hitchhiking, include the Stopića Pecina Cave, the Gostilje Waterfall, the Kokin Brod area and the intriguing meanders of the Uvac river (east). The Tara National Park, described earlier, is also easily reached by car from Zlatibor (west).
Zlatibor
Is Zlatibor the most picturesque town of Serbia? No, it is not. But it is very well-serviced and in the middle of everything, so it makes for a fantastic base. Relatively nearby sights, which are accessible with your own vehicle or by hitchhiking, include the Stopića Pecina Cave, the Gostilje Waterfall, the Kokin Brod area and the intriguing meanders of the Uvac river (east). The Tara National Park, described earlier, is also easily reached by car from Zlatibor (west).
That however doesn’t mean that Zlatibor doesn’t have any points of interest of its own. Did you know that the longest cable car in the world is actually located right here? Who would have thought, hidden in the depths of Serbia? According to the Guinness Book of Records Phu Quoc in Vietnam holds the record with approximately 8km… but this one is 9km and even crosses a lake. It gets even better: The end of the line is a perfect starting point to hike the actual group of mountains that is called Zlatibor, which the town was named after at a later stage once tourism took off (it was originally named Kulaševac). You can’t stay in a town called Zlatibor and don’t hike Mount Zlatibor, that goes without saying! This hike covers Ravni Tornik (a popular ski spot in winter) and the unusually shaped Jecmenska Prerast Cave… a true eye-catcher! Another hike I did and recommend is the trail leading to Mount Cuker, a high-up plateau to be spotted wherever you happen to be in Zlatibor Town. Without too much effort (mind that it’s rather steep though), you can assure yourself some sweet 360-panoramic views over Zlatibor and the surrounding area.
I recorded the above-described hikes to serve as a GPS guidance:
I recorded the above-described hikes to serve as a GPS guidance:
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Hiking Notes: Mind that the Zlatibor loop goes hardcore in the end. We followed Maps.me, which is an app that fails miserably in the Balkans, and have to conclude that last few kilometres are definitely not a trail. It cuts through the forest and bends up to a ridiculously steep level, which isn’t ideal when you simultaneously have to slam yourself through a dense forest. We almost missed the last cable car back because of this hassle. Even though I prefer loop hikes, I recommend turning around once you reached and checked out the impressive Jecmenska Prerast Cave and walk the same (spectacular) route back. The Cuker Trail as recorded above is a shorter version of the original one… simply because I wasn’t aware that there was an extension. The full trail is recorded here.
Kopaonik
The Serbians I spoke to believed that Zlatibor is a B-version of Kopaonik. When it comes to skiing, I believe it immediately… if only judging by the building pit we checked into during summer, the entire town temporarily being transformed into one massive construction site to get ready for a glorious high season: winter season. However, I definitely do not agree when it comes to hiking. With skiing clearly being the main focus of the area, I felt that hiking enthusiasts and summer / spring / autumn visitors are miserably ignored. Not only by “welcoming” them in a place-in-progress full of cranes and drilling noise, but also by basically destroying the trails and forests to make space for ski slopes. I get it, those take up a considerable amount of space… but I lived in the Swiss Alps and personally witnessed how you can in fact maintain an attractive trail network and mountainscape in sunny season, while having the same area in winter simply covered by a thick layer of snow to provide fun for the ski-folks (I belong to that group too). That said, if you don’t own or rent a vehicle, you have to balance uniqueness with accessibility, which makes Kopaonik a feasible stop to reach by bus. You can make your experience a bit more authentic by staying in the more unique and cheaper village 5km down the road, the original town of Kopaonik… it’s further away from the ski lifts, but full of local character opposed to the soulless pumped-out-of-the-ground structures “downtown”.
I completed three hikes in Kopaonik, of which I recommend one:3
Kopaonik
The Serbians I spoke to believed that Zlatibor is a B-version of Kopaonik. When it comes to skiing, I believe it immediately… if only judging by the building pit we checked into during summer, the entire town temporarily being transformed into one massive construction site to get ready for a glorious high season: winter season. However, I definitely do not agree when it comes to hiking. With skiing clearly being the main focus of the area, I felt that hiking enthusiasts and summer / spring / autumn visitors are miserably ignored. Not only by “welcoming” them in a place-in-progress full of cranes and drilling noise, but also by basically destroying the trails and forests to make space for ski slopes. I get it, those take up a considerable amount of space… but I lived in the Swiss Alps and personally witnessed how you can in fact maintain an attractive trail network and mountainscape in sunny season, while having the same area in winter simply covered by a thick layer of snow to provide fun for the ski-folks (I belong to that group too). That said, if you don’t own or rent a vehicle, you have to balance uniqueness with accessibility, which makes Kopaonik a feasible stop to reach by bus. You can make your experience a bit more authentic by staying in the more unique and cheaper village 5km down the road, the original town of Kopaonik… it’s further away from the ski lifts, but full of local character opposed to the soulless pumped-out-of-the-ground structures “downtown”.
I completed three hikes in Kopaonik, of which I recommend one:3
- Kopaonik Loop Trail: Serbia and Kosovo. If you want to take the opportunity to cross Kosovo off the list, this is your chance. Even though it’s not perceived as a separate country in Serbia (so try to not refer to it as such when traveling here – deep feelings are involved), it is in 117 other countries worldwide. I visited Pristina before, but truly appreciated this loop covering the more pure and virgin patches of the countryside forming the true character of this small nation. I hiked this stretch on a rainy and misty day, but somehow this enhanced the overall experience by adding a certain mystique. Parts of the trail go straight over the border line, not only physically forming a line of political debate and separation, but magically enough also providing a sharp contrast between two landscapes. From forested and lush, to barren and rocky. By far my favorite hike in Kopaonik.
- Sunrise Point. I said I recommend only one hike, and that one I just covered. That doesn’t mean that this isn’t a good one… quite the contrary! I go as far as to state that I’d set my alarm any time at 4:30AM if this dreamy vista is the reward (and I am the polar opposite of a morning person). I just think you should drive here if you have a vehicle, as the walk goes alongside an asphalt road and is only bearable when keeping the eye on the prize.
- Josef Pancic Trail. This was the most recorded hike on Wikiloc, so I had high hopes… that were brutely crushed. This was a downright shitshow. The beginning part of the trail is now destroyed by (you guessed it) construction work and new flashy buildings, and at least 3-4 km after that by the heavy machinery driving around to make that happen. The middle part is turned into a pool of soppy mud by the mass-tourism activity of quad bike tours as well as trucks driving logs out of the forest. And the end is now a brand-new asphalt road, which you have to walk for about 11km as they literally closed off the original nature trails on the side of it with barbed wire and an electric fence. And I did all of that in the pissing rain. Worst hiking day ever.
On the way to Kopaonik, we shortly stopped at a village called Brus and loved it. I didn't stay long enough to fully advise you on this destination, but it's worth considering for an overnight stay.
Uzice
I knew nothing about Uzice. I wasn’t even planning on staying the night, as it seemed just a convenient place to switch buses to move on to Zlatibor… but my travel buddy got hungry and we decided to grab lunch. And stayed. This place seriously radiates good vibes, a busy little hub scenically crawling up into the surrounding Dinaric Alps. It’s not a sleepy mountain town tucked into the absolute middle of nowhere, nor feeling like a city due to the dispersion of all the different districts spreading out into the different folds and corners of the mountains. It has a unique character of its own, not seeking any competition. A cool part of recent local history took place in 1941, when the Yugoslav Partisans liberated the town from Nazi Germany, and transformed it into a military Nazi-free mini-state in Nazi-occupied Serbia. This and more is covered in the National Museum (incl. a WWII bunker-tunnel), which is worth a short visit. To stretch the legs, follow the riverside promenade along steampunk-bridges and castle ruins.*
* I recommend admiring the castle ruins from a distance, as the hike up is entirely overgrown and rather unpleasant. Talking from experience.
Uzice
I knew nothing about Uzice. I wasn’t even planning on staying the night, as it seemed just a convenient place to switch buses to move on to Zlatibor… but my travel buddy got hungry and we decided to grab lunch. And stayed. This place seriously radiates good vibes, a busy little hub scenically crawling up into the surrounding Dinaric Alps. It’s not a sleepy mountain town tucked into the absolute middle of nowhere, nor feeling like a city due to the dispersion of all the different districts spreading out into the different folds and corners of the mountains. It has a unique character of its own, not seeking any competition. A cool part of recent local history took place in 1941, when the Yugoslav Partisans liberated the town from Nazi Germany, and transformed it into a military Nazi-free mini-state in Nazi-occupied Serbia. This and more is covered in the National Museum (incl. a WWII bunker-tunnel), which is worth a short visit. To stretch the legs, follow the riverside promenade along steampunk-bridges and castle ruins.*
* I recommend admiring the castle ruins from a distance, as the hike up is entirely overgrown and rather unpleasant. Talking from experience.
Not recommended:
- Kragujevac: I tend to ask locals what their favorite places are in their country, to create a more authentic not-in-the-lonely-planet-itinerary. That took a bit of a wrong turn when going out of our way to visit Kragujevac, though, after it was mentioned as a must-visit destination during Jazzfest. After the spectacular Nisville Jazz Festival that for sure sounded like a loud and clear “yes”. Where Nisville diversifies with various musical styles (pop, prog, reggae, rap) and more popular side-steps, this one however turned out to be for the jazz purists only… of which there were about 20-30 maybe, generous guess? And I wasn’t one of them. The town itself takes the crown in being the ugliest one I’ve seen in Serbia, even beating Belgrade (go for Niš or Novi Sad instead). Fair enough, you can have a good time anywhere with the right attitude, and we did. Turns out that if you hit the bars and drink enough, it doesn’t matter where you are. Even if it’s in Kragujevac.
Footnote 1: Facebook Groups gathering Serbian and Balkan-based travelers include the following: Travel to Eastern Europe, the Balkans and former USSR & Travel to the Balkans & Looking for a Travel Buddy. Alternatively, you can post your request on Serbian / Balkan Couchsurf forums. Hitchhiking is not very common in Serbia and the rest of the Balkan, but people are likely to stop. I hitchhiked almost everything and can conclude it’s rather safe and doable, yet time-consuming (especially when leaving bigger cities, requiring you to first get to the correct road outside of town). Hitchhike with no more than 2 people to ensure drivers have enough space to take you along, especially if you also have a big backpack. Hitchwiki is a useful website. The Blablacar-app provides a cheap carpool solution, but just like public transport, mainly serves the cities.
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