highlights

Zlatibor mountain is located in southwestern Serbia, about 217 kilometres from Belgrade. The highest peak of Zlatibor is Tornik, which rises 1.496 meters above sea level. Palisad plateau, at the altitude of 1.000 meters, is a place where a tourist center sprung up, with its numerous hotels, bungalows, shops, bus station, market, restaurants... this part of the mountain is covered with marked hiking paths, which lead through alternate green fields and pine groves. Snow cover on Zlatibor gets up to 60 centimeters thick, which makes the mountain ideal for winter sports.

history

It is believed that Mt. Zlatibor owes its name to the white-yellow, golden coloured pine trees, that used to grow on this mountain. They say there is only one tree left of this species, in the village of Negbine.

Zlatibor had been inhabited in the distant past. First known inhabitants of the mountain were the people from the Ilyric tribe Partins. The only remnants of their culture are fragments of pottery decorated with patterns imprinted into clay with fingernails, that can be seen in the museum exhibit of Cajetina city library.

Later, at the beginning of the new era, the mountain was inhabited by the Romans, who built fortresses and roads. Most of the Roman tombstones from the 1st and 2nd century were found in the area around village Kremna.

Slavs settled in this area in the 8th and 9th century, and in 1180 it became a part of the medieval Serbian kingdom, ruled by Stefan Nemanja.

In the 16th century, the most important cultural center of the region was Rujno monastery, which, unfortunately, doesn’t exist anymore. It hosted one of the first Serbian printing machines. The ruins of Uvac monastery have recently been discovered on Uvac, and the church was rebuilt and consecrated in 1995.

getting there

Zlatibor can be reached by the asphalt highway going from Belgrade to Podgorica and further on to the sea.

There are five daily buses connecting Belgrade with Zlatibor, but almost every bus that goes this way makes a stop in Zlatibor. Here are some of them: Belgrade – Herceg Novi (reaches Zlatibor at 08.15 am); Bijelo Polje – Kragujevac (reaches Zlatibor at 09.00 am); Jagodina – Zlatibor (reaches Zlatibor at 9.30 am); Nis – Zlatibor (reaches Zlatibor at 11.00 am); Leskovac – Pljevlja (reaches Zlatibor at 02.20 pm); Novi Sad – Pljevlja (reaches Zlatibor at 01.30 pm) and so on.

For more detailed information: Zlatibor bus station, phone no. 031 / 845 - 103 and 031 / 841 - 646.

You can take a train to Uzice (see the section: Uzice) from where there are 15 daily buses to Zlatibor. Uzice is 24 kilometres away from Zlatibor.

things to see

Zlatibor is a pretty tame mountain, with mild slopes, grass fields and pine groves, traversed by a network of marked trekking paths, which makes hiking one of the most common activities (a walk to Cigota, Rzav canyon, Gradina, Crni Vrh, Ribnicko lake...)

The center of Zlatibor is the tourist settlement “Zlatibor”, with a number of hotels, pensions, restaurants... there is also a rectangular-shaped artificial lake, as well as the open market where you can buy the famous milk cream, cheese, and various folk handicrafts (we recommend the woolen socks).

Ethno-village Sirogojno (phone no. 031 / 802 – 583) is, no doubt, one of the greatest attractions. It is a reconstruction of a typical mountain village from the 19th century, including houses, dairy store, bakery, farm, barns... In the village there is a couple of workshops for pottery, weaving, wood carving and producing various traditional artifacts for daily use in a village.

Stopica cave is located on the northeastern side of Zlatibor. It is 30 km away from Uzice and 19 kilometres from the Belgrade – Podgorica motorway. The Uzice – Sirogojno road goes just above the cave. The cave is 1.691 meters long, and consists of five sections: “The Light Hall”, “The Dark Hall”, “The Big Hall With Baths”, “Channel With Baths” and “The River Channel”. The tourist part of the cave is not rich in cave ornaments, but there are a couple of attractive elements such as: spacious hallway, ceiling openings, a rubble heap called “Dog cemetery”, a waterfall called “Fountain of Life” and, above all, an array of shallow cavities that are among the biggest and deepest (over 7 meters) in Serbia. Cavities are periodically flooded, and some of them have become lakes. For more detailed information: Tourist organisation of Zlatibor, phone no. 031 / 841 – 646.