Highlights: Perucac lake, Drina river, Banjska rock viewpoint, Zaovine Lake, house on the Drina river, Mokra Gora, Wooden town, Emir Kusturica, Uvac lake, Griffon Vulture, Sirogojno open air ethno museum, Stopica cave

 

With beautiful nature, amazing food and landscapes that will take your breath away, western Serbia will easily make its way to your heart. We present you the best of West Serbia.

 

On this tour we are to discover:

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Tara National park

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House in The Middle of The Drina River -  the tiny house stands on an exposed rock in the middle of the Drina River, near the town of Bajina Basta, Serbia. The town lies in the valley of the Drina River at the eastern edge of Tara National Park. The beauty of the house was captured by Hungarian photographer Irene Becker in August. The picture soon became a hit on the Internet. The house, despite having just found its recent fame, has been standing in the middle of the river for more than 40 years.  he house was built in 1968 by a group of young boys who needed a place to sunbath. As the rock was not exactly the most comfortable place to lie down, they brought some boards from a nearby ruined shed. The following year the boys put up a roof and walls and a house materialized. To transport the materials they used boats and kayaks. Larger pieces were lowered into the water just a few miles upstream, and then caught at the rock. The house was nearly destroyed several times during flood, but every time it was built from ground up.

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Perucac lake - an arteficial lake made by building a dam on Drina, for the needs of the hydroelectric plant ”Bajina Bašta”. It has a surface of 12,4 km², the volume of 340.000 000 m³ of water, and it is up to 60 meters deep. It is 54 km long, and the minimum width of the lake is 150 meters, whereas the maximum is 1000 meters. It is situated at the altitude of 290 meters. The longest part of the lake is canyon-shaped, and it is surrounded by extremely steep rock clifs and rock blocks that dive vertically into the water. The lake is in the natural bend of the canyon of the river Drina between Bajina Bašta and Višegrad, and it surrounds mountain Tara, and its National park of Tara. The bathing season lasts for two months (July and August). The beach in Perućac has pontoons with pools for children. The area for swimming is bordered by buoys, lifeguards are present all the time on the coast or on the life boat. There are also showers, sliders, diving boards, canoes and paddle boats for renting, boats, a lovely restaurant. You can also enjoy boat riding around the lake. There used to be two ships with 60 seats, and they floated through the canyon of Drina from Višegrad to Perućac. Today, it is possible again to travel on a ship in tourist boats, which is a real attraction.

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Drina river - one of the most beautiful rivers in Serbia. In ancient times it was called Drinos and people named it Zelenika or Zelenka (Green in Serbian) after colour of its water. It meanders through picturesque mountainous and plain regions of Bosnia and Serbia. On its banks are settled broad ravines with cultivable and inhabited fields as well as steep banks of rugged and canyon type overgrown with willows, poplars and short bushes. The most beautiful and the biggest canyon in its course Drina engraved from Zepa to Klotijevac, 24km long. Length of its course from Scepan polje, where it originates from Piva and Tara to its mouth in Sava is 340 km. The difference in height above sea level between its spring and mouth is 358 km. Width of its course varies from 100-200m in Perucac and Zvornik to 15m in place called Tijesno (Narrow). At Bajina Basta, 54,4 to 698 m3/s of water flows and water level is 34-356 cm. Water temperature is from 8,7-16,3 C. Colour of water is mostly green and it is second class of quality.

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Banjska rock (also Goat rock)- the most magnificent place on Mount Tara. You can enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of the Lake Perućac Gorge and hydroelectric power plant Bajina Bašta from the viewpoint.

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Sargan eight and Wooden town

 

The Wooden Town, also normally referred to as Küstendorf and Mecavnik, is a traditional village that the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica built for his film by the name  "Life is a Miracle". It is located near National park "Tara", two hundred kilometers southwest of Serbia's capital, Belgrade. Kusturica was the 2005 recipient of the Philippe Rotthier European Architecture award and kudos go to the Wooden Town. The Wooden Town has a library, named the Ivo Andrić Library; an artist gallery named Macola in honor of the sculptor Dragan Jovićević (it was previously known as Anika, after a character from Ivo Andric's fiction); Stanley Kubrick Cinema; the main house which houses a cinema-hall in the basement, a living room, a guest room, a closed yard, a swimming pool, a gym, a sauna and private chambers for the Kusturica family; a sports hall; a restaurant; a cake shop, as well as a souvenir shop; and finally, a Church dedicated to St. Sava, a Serbian Saint. The streets in the village bear the names of various individuals whoKusturica holds in high esteem or finds to be personally significant: Nikola Tesla, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Diego Maradona, MiodragPetrovićČkalja, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Joe Strummer, Novak Đoković and of course, Ivo Andrić, who the main street is named after.

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The Sargan Eight is a narrow-gauge heritage railway in Serbia, running from the village of Mokra Gora to the Šargan Vitasi station. An extension to Višegrad in the Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was finished on August 28th, 2010. The former East Bosnian railway with a gauge of 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in) was an important part of the former narrow-gauge main line from Sarajevo to Belgrade and closed in 1974. Between 1999 and 2003 the section over the Šargan pass was rebuilt by the Serbian Ministry of Tourism and the Yugoslav State Railway (now the Serbian Railways), with a huge help from Emir Kusturica. Nowadays, travelers have the chance to go on an amazing train ride around the mountains in the Sargan Eight.

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Uvac canyon

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Uvac lake - a breathtaking Special nature reserve Uvac is one of the most beautiful places in Serbia and a top destination for true nature lovers. Uvac river forms the three lakes (Uvac, Zlatar and Radoinja) and we will visit one with the most beautiful meanders, take a boat ride and enjoy hiking to the  the lookout over the Uvac canyon - one of the most beautiful in Serbia. This place is also home to protected bird species - the griffon vulture and we are bound to see lots of these nature cleaners. Also, you are going to explore the Ice cave and its beautiful stalactites, in case level of lake is good and cave is accessible.

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Zlatibor mountain

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Old village Sirogojno - Building skills and interior facilitation, as well as the way of organizing business and family life of people in the hilly - mountainous areas of the Dinar region are presented in 55 buildings (of which 32 are in permanent museum exhibition) which are relocated from mt Zlatibor’s villages.

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Stopica Cave is composed of 5 units: the Light hall, the Dark hall, the Big hall with tubs, the Canal and the River canal. The tourist part of the Cave has got several attractive elements such as a broad entrance, ‘dugure’ - openings on the ceiling, a sipar arch ‘Dog’s cemetery’, a waterfall ‘The source of life’, and a lot of ‘bigren’ tubs.

 

ITINERARY:

 

DAY 1: Departure from Belgrade in the morning 8 AM (hotel pick up), a ride to Zlatibor mountain with refreshment break in Ovcar-Kablar gorge and Medjuvrsje lake, arrival on Zlatibor mt. around 12PM and visit to Stopica cave 12-1:30PM, visit to "Old village" Sirogojno open air ethno museum, sightseeing and time for traditional lunch 1:30-3:30PM. Visit to Gostilje waterfall 3:30-5PM. Transfer to Zlatibor center, check in and rest or walk in the center. Overnight.

DAY 2:  After the breakfast, departure to Uvac lake at 9:00AM, Uvac lake boat cruising (total cruising time is around 2 hours), hike to lookout (around 1 hour both ways). Cruise back / or hike to the starting point. Departure to one of the restaurants on the Uvac lake for lunch and taking some time to round up imressions...Return to Zlatibor and free time to explore Zlatibor center. Overnight.

 

DAY 3: After the breakfast, check out and departure at 9AM to Mokra Gora for "Sargan 8" heritage train ride for 2,5h, time for lunch in Mecavnik wooden town and sightseeing. 3-6:30PM departure to Tara National park and visit: lookout Banjska Rock and Zaovine lake, waterfall and river Vrelo, house on the Drina river. Departure to Belgrade and arrival in the evening by 10PM.

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Translation support Angloland​

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