Holidays on Zlatibor are a real opportunity not only to recharge your batteries and escape from everyday obligations, but also to get to know many natural attractions and enjoy the contents of various kinds. The most attractive mountain in western Serbia offers the opportunity to spend unforgettable moments in entertainment and educational centers such as Avantura and Dino Park, visit museums and ethno-contents, but also beautiful natural beauties: lookouts, lakes, caves and enchanting mountain slopes. Among the benefits of the mountain is certainly the rich offer of gastronomic facilities and cafes for a good time, which will provide the necessary dose of hedonism and undoubtedly have a positive effect on the mood of guests. Another key advantage of Zlatibor tourism is the category of private accommodation Zlatibor. A wide and quality offer of apartments, log cabins or mountain houses will surely allow you to enjoy every moment during your stay on the mountain and provide you with the opportunity to go on a beauty tour on and around Zlatibor. And there are so many of them that you have to be ready and willing to hang out with them.
We have briefly listed the beauties on the mountain itself, so that this time we would pay attention to the most attractive places for a trip around Zlatibor. If you are planning a multi-day vacation, it would be great to set aside at least one day to go to one of the famous places that are about an hour's drive from your Zlatibor accommodation. By going to them, your stay will be enriched with new contents, and you will be richer for a new experience and many beautiful memories. To make it easier for you to decide where to go, we have singled out three places in the vicinity of Zlatibor, which are ideal for a day trip.
Zlatibor excursions
The three best places that will complete your Zlatibor vacation, provide you with quality moments and connect you with the history and spirit of western Serbia. The combination of Zlatibor's charms and content and the beauty of the nature of the nearby places will make you take home beautiful memories.
Uvac trip
One of the most famous, most visited and most beautiful tourist attractions in all of Serbia. It is located at a slightly greater distance from the center of Zlatibor, but the set of different contents and beauties of Uvac is certainly worth two hours of driving, and more than that. The special nature reserve Uvac is a national natural treasure, which preserves rare species of flora and fauna. This landscape of exceptional importance is located in southwestern Serbia, within the Starovlaška Visija. Around it are the mountains Zlatar, Murtenica, Čemernica, Javor and Jadovnik, and thanks to its position it is a kind of air spa. The central part of the reserve is the valley of the river Uvac with its tributaries, as long as 120 kilometers. What has become a kind of symbol of the entire region are the trapped meanders of the river - whose image began to mark the trademark of the natural beauties of the whole of Serbia. The next thing that makes this area stand out and that should not be skipped during a picnic trip is the existence of a cave system 6200 meters long. This natural treasure has long been undiscovered, and today it is one of the most beautiful areas for camping. We warmly recommend that you take some time to enjoy the richness of cave jewelry and the variety of caves surrounded by rich greenery. The Uvac reserve has become widely known and very important due to the preservation of rare and rich fauna, especially birds, of which there are about 130 species. The most important among them is the griffon vulture, which has been protected by law since 1994, and whose colony is the largest in the Balkans. Apart from the eagle, other endangered species of animals are kept on Uvac: wolf, bear, wild boar, rabbits, badgers, foxes, martens. The clear water of the river preserves a large number of fish species, such as juveniles, lake trout and perch. Preservation of diverse flora and fauna makes this nature reserve a national asset of great importance.
Uvac cruise
A sightseeing tour of Uvac by boat accompanied by experienced guides must be a mandatory part of your trip. On it you will experience the real atmosphere of the reserve and get to know all its charms up close. The dam of Uvačko Lake is the starting point of the trip, which lasts about 4 hours and 30 minutes, and whose route is about 16 kilometers long. The first stop is planned for a tour of the Ice Cave, which is accessible only across the lake, as well as for a walking tour to the lookout point. In this part of the trip, you will meet the griffon vulture - the ruler of the Uvac sky. The lookout point is reached by a 1300 meter long path, after which you get a beautiful panoramic view of all the beauties of the reserve. You can afford a trip for 2350 dinars per person, while children up to 10 years have a 50% discount.
Words sometimes cannot completely convey all the beauties that nature hides in itself. For such landscapes, you need to see them with your own eyes and experience them personally. Uvac is certainly one such destination. It can be freely said that it is the most like that in the whole of Serbia.
Ovčarsko-kablarska gorge
At 73 kilometers from Zlatibor, there is a treasure gathered from natural beauties, authentic monasteries and spa facilities, which is under state protection as a landscape of exceptional features of the first category. This unit is located in the municipality of Čačak, between the mountains Ovčar and Kablar. The gorge is 20 kilometers long, and its greatest depth is 710 meters. It was formed on the trapped meanders of the West Morava, divided by dams on which two artificial lakes were formed: Ovčar Banja and Međuvršje. What the gorge is most famous for are its monasteries and the healing, developed Ovčar spa, which will provide you with unforgettable memories and wonderful moments during the trip.
10 Ovčar-Kablar monasteries
The reason why the gorge is called the Serbian Holy Mountain are the monasteries that are located on the left and right side of the West Morava, and which are located in all parts of the whole, surrounded by forests, water and rocks. The monasteries make this area unique also because it is rare that in Serbia so many holy places have been built within one whole. On the right side of the Morava are: the Monastery of the Presentation, the Ascension, the Meeting, the Transfiguration and the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, while on the left side of the river are the Monastery of the Annunciation, Ilinje, Jovanje, Nikolje and the Monastery of the Assumption. A special shrine is also represented by the church dedicated to Saint Sava, which is called Savinja. These holy places represent a real national treasure, which in the Turkish era hid and saved Orthodox monks and Serbian rulers. Today, they are all open and accessible to visitors, who will experience a new dimension in them and find peace in the correlation of spirituality and nature.
Ovčar spa
Among the forest areas, in the very heart of the gorge, there is a famous health resort and tourist attraction - Ovčar spa. Spa springs with thermo-mineral water are located between river springs, artificial lakes and green slopes of Ovčara and Kablar. Although it received the status of a spa only in 2011, this complex has been used for the treatment and hospitality of visitors since the Middle Ages. Within the spa, there is also a Health Center, which is available for diagnosing and treating various problems: from rheumatism to sports injuries and skin diseases. In addition to this aspect, in Banja you can find a variety of facilities, including: Wellness center Kablar, with a pool containing thermal water, numerous gastronomic facilities, including the most famous restaurant Dom, on the river bank, whose landscaped space offers the opportunity to enjoy the murmur of water. In addition to all this, there are numerous sports and recreational activities at your disposal, which will be most enjoyed by true nature lovers. There is also a space for fishing, mountain trails that lead to the monastery or activities in the clear water of the river, but also extreme paragliding and mountaineering. There is no doubt that the spa will allow your trip to be kind and fulfilling.
The Tourist Organization of Čačak organizes excursions to all the mentioned attractive places. Experienced tourist guides will accompany you to the monastery, during a boat ride along the West Morava or show you where you can find a company that organizes hiking to Ovčara and Kablar. The summer months are especially tempting when it comes to visiting the spa, because then concerts, plays, spiritual evenings, art exhibitions and popular events such as regattas, swimming marathons or big mountain races are organized every day.
Višegrad
At a distance of 75 kilometers or an hour and twenty minutes drive, the town of Ivo Andrić awaits you, a beautiful gem on the Drina, an ideal place to measure with the sound of green water. The city is located in the far east of Republika Srpska, only 16 kilometers from the Serbian border. Today, it is one of the favorite destinations of Serbian tourists, and the reason for that is certainly the multitude of diverse facilities and spaces to enjoy with a view of the beloved Drina. We single out the most interesting city attractions and organized contents on the river Drina.
Bridge on the Drina
Indispensable bridge on the Drina - a kind of symbol not only of this city, but also of the entire Serbian people, who captivate with their tradition and beauty for centuries. The Visegrad Bridge is the endowment of the Grand Vizier Memed-pasha Sokolović, a famous Serbian boy who became one of the greatest statesmen of the Turkish Empire in blood. At the peak of his power, he decides to build a kind of masterpiece, which will forever be his memory and remembrance of our history. As our Nobel laureate described it, the bridge extends to 11 arches, above which stretches the entire length of the wreath over which is the fence of the bridge. In the middle of it is the famous sofa, once a place where important decisions of dignitaries were made, today intended for the rest of passers-by. Here are two marble slabs, with verses by the poet Nihadi, which speak of the builder and the year of construction. This kind of history and the novel, whose bridge is the main character, made him rise to the greatest symbol of a state. Undoubtedly enough reasons to visit it and feel live the atmosphere that lasts in it and will last forever.
Andrićgrad, Andrić's monument, house and classroom
Visegrad is all about our only Nobel Prize winner, one of the greatest writers ever born in this area. That is why there is a sign on each part of the city that keeps the memory of the man who celebrated Visegrad the most. Among them, the most famous is Andrićgrad, a cultural, administrative, tourist and educational complex, located 300 meters from the bridge. It was created on the idea of Emir Kusturica, who was inspired by the work and characters from Ivo Andrć's novel. The city is a mixture of epochs and styles that existed in the history of this area: Byzantine, Ottoman, Renaissance and Classicism. It is a kind of symbol of the crossroads of different cultures and civilizations, which is the main feature of Bosnia. In its heart there is a monument to Ivo Andrić, and next to it there is a city theater, a modern cinema, the city administration, the Academy of Fine Arts, the building of Andrić High School, squares, hotels, a memorial house of the writer, as well as a church.
In addition to this complex, you can find a house in the city where the Nobel laureate spent his childhood, which can only be seen from the outside for now. Also the Memorial Classroom, which is located only 500 meters from the bridge on the Drina. The Elementary School was opened in the building in 1982, where the great Ivo also learned the first letters. In his part, a memorial classroom was created in the school, which contains the setting of the school classroom from the beginning of the 19th century, as well as Andrić's photographs from Visegrad. You can get all the information about visiting this classroom at the House of Culture in Visegrad. Finally, during the trip, you should visit the monument to the writer, which was created by the sculptor Ljupko Antunović. The monument symbolizes an open book, on the pages of which there are medallions with the image of Ivo Andrić. You will find it right next to the Visegrad Bridge.
Apart from cultural contents, the obligatory part of your stay in Visegrad should be a visit to the river and enjoying one of the organized tourist programs.
Facilities on the Drina
The spacious Drina, as one of the symbols of the city, offers many different facilities, which will complete your trip, and among which everyone will undoubtedly find the ideal activity. Among the listed programs, the most famous are:
- Short rides on tourist boats on the Drina - a half-hour ride, ideal for all those who have little time at their disposal, during which they will get to know the arches of the bridge and feel the real Drina atmosphere.
- Tour of Visegrad by tourist vehicle Ćirko - from 2018, a tourist attraction is available that leads from the Visegrad bridge, along the city streets, all the way to the Andrićgrad complex. In about 25 minutes you will visit all the famous city attractions, which will be presented to you by experienced guides.
- Swimming on the Drina - Jaz beach - a beautiful, well-kept beach, which gives you the opportunity to enjoy the clear Drina water, canoeing, pedal boat or motor boat. In addition, during your stay there is a bar, a restaurant of national cuisine, a children's pool and a playground, as well as a camping area. Perhaps the wide offer of this place persuades you to extend your one-day trip for several days.
These were just some of the attractions set apart from the entire wide Visegrad offer. What you should not omit are the famous city kebab shops and restaurants of local cuisine, which preserve the authentic look of the famous Turkish towns or are located on the river bank and convey the true Drina atmosphere.
We hope that with this text we helped you decide how to further complete your Zlatibor vacation. The three mentioned locations are a safe choice when it comes to a one-day trip from Zlatibor as a starting point. We believe that these short excerpts from their entirety also managed to convey the atmosphere of the place and interest you to get to know every part of it.
