“Spring Awa­ke­ning in Wes­tern Ser­bia”.

On the second day, a dyna­mic and varied, rela­tively long route through the rest of the Val­jevo Moun­ta­ins awaits us, ending with our arri­val in Kaluđer­ske bare, a vaca­tion resort that is the gate­way to the spec­ta­cu­lar Tara Natio­nal Park. This route often mixes muddy forest pas­sa­ges with gra­vel and shorter sec­tions on asphalt roads. The Tara Moun­ta­ins are mostly covered by pine forests, with peaks that are 1500–1700 meters high. It is sur­roun­ded by the breath­ta­king can­yon of the Drina River, which we can see from two spec­ta­cu­lar view­points. In the middle of the Tara, at an alti­tude of about 1000 m, lies Lake Zaovine, which is also a beau­tiful sight with its five parts rea­ching deep into the sur­roun­ding val­leys covered with dense forest. In the south, the Tara Moun­ta­ins are con­nec­ted with Zla­ti­bor (ano­ther large and very diverse high­land) via the Šar­gan Pass. Both Tara and Zla­ti­bor have an exten­sive net­work of good qua­lity gra­vel roads, but once you move away from the main roads, you can easily find some more chal­len­ging forest trails. Early April is the time bet­ween win­ter and spring at these alti­tu­des (usually above 1000 m), so our tour will also be an explo­ra­tion with alter­na­ting fresh green and snowy pas­sa­ges. Con­stant light chan­ges ensure that it never gets bor­ing, and the beau­tiful views will tempt us to spon­ta­neous photo stops. As we drive over the high­lands of Zla­ti­bor, our average alti­tude slowly rises, but we also enter an area where the moun­ta­ins are quite den­sely popu­la­ted and peo­ple live in harm­ony with nature. Thus, we will pass many small moun­tain vil­la­ges with the tra­di­tio­nal archi­tec­ture of woo­den hou­ses, for which Wes­tern Ser­bia is par­ti­cu­larly famous, making the tour a strong cul­tu­ral expe­ri­ence. Finally, the tour rea­ches the area of Uvac lakes and Peš­ter high­lands, sur­roun­ded by seve­ral of the hig­hest moun­tain rid­ges in the region — Zlatar, Jadov­nik and Golija. While the attrac­tive peaks of these moun­ta­ins are inac­ces­si­ble until mid-May due to huge snow drifts, we will make some very inte­res­t­ing rou­tes through the lower slo­pes of these moun­ta­ins, where spring awa­kens alre­ady in early April and offers us nice oppor­tu­ni­ties to enjoy the lake sce­n­ery with some really spec­ta­cu­lar view­points and maybe even meet the grif­fon vul­tures up close (the Uvac Reserve hosts one of the lar­gest colo­nies of grif­fon vul­tures in Europe). The last day of the tour tra­di­tio­nally offers a shorter and easier route, lea­ving enough time to drive home in the early after­noon or directly from our last hotel in the early mor­ning if you wish. Accom­mo­da­tion As vir­tually every moun­tain in wes­tern Ser­bia is a popu­lar vaca­tion spot, it’s easy to find good hotels and make a smart choice for your maxi­mum satis­fac­tion. The six hotels fea­tured on this tour are a com­bi­na­tion of luxu­rious, large 4‑star hotels that offer ever­y­thing you would expect from such a place (inclu­ding well­ness and spa faci­li­ties), and some small, atmo­sphe­ric hotels built in the tra­di­tio­nal local style, which means no com­pro­mise on the qua­lity of ser­vices and con­tent. We pay spe­cial atten­tion to the sel­ec­tion of hotels loca­ted deep in nature, away from major cities, to ensure you cont­act with unspoi­led nature 24 hours a day. On all days we will have half board (included in the tour price), which means that break­fast and din­ner will be taken in the hotels, while on the road we will have to feed our­sel­ves with the food we brought from our mobile coo­lers (or stop at restau­rants in the coun­try­side on the days we pass them). All hotels have ample par­king and offer free wifi access. We recom­mend that you do the shop­ping for lunch before our mee­ting on the first day or when you arrive in Divči­bare at the end of the hike plan­ned for that day, as there are seve­ral food mar­kets nearby. During the tour, there are oppor­tu­ni­ties to rep­le­nish food sup­plies near most of the hotels where we stay. The­r­e­fore, a com­pres­sor ref­ri­ge­ra­tor is not cru­cial for satis­fac­tion on the tour, as it is pos­si­ble to buy the food you need for lunch the next day almost every day. In the email that we send out one month before the start of the trip, we will inform you about this issue in more detail. Daily lunch breaks take place bet­ween 12:30 and 14:00 and last appro­xi­m­ately 30 to 40 minu­tes. As tra­di­tio­nal meals in Ser­bia are quite sump­tuous and there’s a decent break­fast and din­ner every day, we don’t think you’ll be cra­ving a hearty lunch. What else should you know about the tour? On this tour, the mee­ting point is at a large gas sta­tion about 100 km sou­thwest of Bel­grade, near the A2 high­way (you will receive detailed direc­tions, coor­di­na­tes and GPX/KML tracks to reach the mee­ting point). Final details will be emai­led to you appro­xi­m­ately one month prior to the start of the tour.
Please make sure you have tra­vel insu­rance before start­ing the tour. We expect you to arrive with a vehicle in good tech­ni­cal con­di­tion that can with­stand a week of off-roa­ding in the modera­tely muddy con­di­ti­ons of early spring. This tour requi­res average off-road expe­ri­ence and skills. During the tour there is a pos­si­bi­lity to refuel (gaso­line, die­sel, LPG) near most of the hotels, so you don’t need to take extra gas cans. All major cre­dit cards (Visa, Mas­ter, Maes­tro, etc.) work in Ser­bia (both at ATMs and when pay­ing for goods), but it is advi­sa­ble to carry a small amount of cash for smal­ler expen­ses.

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