Serbia: Seven Attractions and Natural Wonders

A crossroads fought over for two thousand years

Serbia, at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, sits on ground that has been strategically contested for over two millennia — Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Yugoslav rule have each left their mark on its fortresses, monasteries, and cities. Belgrade's own fortress has reportedly been destroyed and rebuilt dozens of times across its history, reflecting just how consistently fought-over this particular stretch of the Balkans has been.

The seven below run from Belgrade and Novi Sad to the country's medieval monasteries and a striking natural rock formation in the south. Spring through autumn suits most sightseeing.

1. Belgrade Fortress (Kalemegdan)

Belgrade Fortress, standing at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, has been fought over and rebuilt so many times across Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian rule that it is difficult to date any single part of the current structure to one era alone. Now surrounded by Kalemegdan Park, one of Belgrade's most popular green spaces, it remains the city's defining historical landmark and a favoured spot for sunset views over the rivers.

2. The Church of Saint Sava

The Church of Saint Sava, built on the site where Ottoman forces reportedly burned the relics of Serbia's patron saint in 1595, has grown over more than a century of construction (still not fully complete inside) into one of the largest Orthodox Christian church buildings in the world, its white marble exterior and central dome dominating Belgrade's skyline from considerable distances.

3. Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad

Petrovaradin Fortress, overlooking Novi Sad and the Danube, earned the nickname "Gibraltar on the Danube" for its formidable 18th-century Austrian defensive engineering, including an extensive network of tunnels beneath the fortress said to stretch many kilometres. It has also become internationally known as the site of the EXIT music festival, one of Europe's largest, held within the fortress walls each summer.

4. Đavolja Varoš (Devil's Town)

Đavolja Varoš, in southern Serbia, is a valley of over 200 natural stone towers, each capped with a boulder that has protected the softer rock beneath it from erosion over thousands of years — a formation so unusual that local legend attributes it to a failed wedding turned to stone by supernatural forces. It has been proposed for UNESCO recognition and remains one of the most visually striking natural sites in the Balkans.

5. Studenica Monastery

Studenica, founded in the late 12th century by the first king of the medieval Serbian state, holds two white marble churches decorated with Byzantine-influenced frescoes considered among the finest surviving examples of medieval Serbian religious art. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and still an active monastic community, it remains one of the most important sites in Serbian Orthodox history.

6. The House on the Drina

On the Drina River near the town of Bajina Bašta, a tiny wooden cabin sits on a bare rock in the middle of the current — built in 1968 by a young swimmer who liked to sunbathe there and grew tired of the current sweeping his towel away. Rebuilt several times after floods and storms by locals who have adopted it as a local landmark, it has become one of the most photographed spots in Serbia.

There is no bridge or path to it; the house is reachable only by wading or swimming out from the riverbank.

7. The Iron Gate (Đerdap Gorge)

The Iron Gate, where the Danube carves through the Carpathian and Balkan mountains along the Serbia-Romania border, is Europe's longest and deepest river gorge — a dramatic narrows protected on the Serbian side as Đerdap National Park, with the huge rock relief of Decebalus carved into the Romanian cliffs visible from the water.

A hydroelectric dam near the gorge's end created one of the largest reservoirs on the Danube, but the upstream stretch through the gorge remains wild and cliff-bound.

Serbia suits a week combining Belgrade and Novi Sad with a excursion south to Studenica and Đavolja Varoš, with car rental generally the most practical way to reach the more remote natural and monastery sites.