This tour begins with a section through the Valjevo Mountains, a vast area of low (up to 1300 m) but beautiful and diverse mountains south of the town of Valjevo. We will first take the most picturesque path between Ravna Gora and Divčibare over a narrow, rocky ridge with a view of half of western Serbia before we reach our wonderful 4‑star hotel in the tourist resort of Divčibare.
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 1500–1700 meters high. It is surrounded by the breathtaking Drina river gorge, which we can see from two spectacular viewpoints. In the middle of the Tara, at an altitude of around 1000 m, lies Lake Zaovine, which also offers a beautiful sight with its five parts reaching deep into the surrounding valleys covered in dense forest. In the south, the Tara Mountains are connected to 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 will easily find some more challenging forest trails. The beginning of April is the time between winter and spring at these altitudes (usually over 1000 m), so our tour will also be an exploration with alternating fresh green and snowy passages. Constant changes in light ensure that it never gets boring, and the beautiful views will tempt us to make spontaneous photo stops.
As we drive over the highlands of Zlatibor, our average altitude rises slowly, but we also enter an area where the mountains are quite densely populated and people live in harmony with nature. 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 the Uvac Lakes and the Pešter Highlands, which is 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 the huge snow drifts, we will make some very interesting routes through the lower slopes of these mountains, where spring is already awakening in early April, giving us nice opportunities to enjoy the lake scenery with some truly spectacular viewpoints and maybe even encounter the griffon vultures at close range (the Uvac reserve is home to 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
Since practically 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 quality of service and content. We place particular emphasis on selecting hotels that are located deep in the countryside, away from major cities, to ensure you are in contact with unspoiled nature 24 hours a day.
On all days we have half board (included in the tour price), i.e. breakfast and dinner are taken in the hotels, while we have to feed ourselves on the way with the food we have brought with us from our mobile cool boxes (or stop off at restaurants in the countryside on the days we pass them). All hotels have ample parking spaces and offer free Wi-Fi 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 stock up on food near most of the hotels we stay in. Therefore, a compressor fridge is not crucial for satisfaction on tour, as it is possible to buy the food you need for lunch the next day almost every day. We will provide you with more detailed information on this topic in the e‑mail we send out one month before the start of your trip.
The daily lunch breaks take place between 12:30 and 14:00 and last around 30 to 40 minutes. As traditional meals in Serbia are quite sumptuous and there is 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). The final details will be sent to you by e‑mail approximately one month before the start of the tour. Please make sure that 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 off-road in the moderately muddy conditions of early spring. This tour requires average off-road experience and skills. During the tour there is the possibility to refuel near most hotels (gasoline, diesel, LPG), so you do not have to take additional gas cans with you. 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.
