Highlights: Drina river, Banjska rock viewpoint, house on the Drina river, Perucac lake, Vrelo waterfall, Gate of Podrinje

 

With beautiful nature, amazing food and landscapes that will take your breath away, western Serbia will easily make its way to your heart. If you want to uncover splendour of National Park Tara, but do not have much time, this one day tour is the best option.

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Read our article 5 reasons that will make you fall in love with Tara National Park

 

On this tour we are to discover:

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Gate of Podrinje lookout

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Our first impression of Tara mountain will be from lookout Gate of Podrinje, perfect place for a short break with a beautuful view!

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House in The Middle of The Drina River

 

The tiny house stands on an exposed rock in the middle of the Drina River, near the town of Bajina Basta, Serbia. The town lies in the valley of the Drina River at the eastern edge of Tara National Park. The beauty of the house was captured by Hungarian photographer Irene Becker in August. The picture soon became a hit on the Internet. The house, despite having just found its recent fame, has been standing in the middle of the river for more than 40 years.  he house was built in 1968 by a group of young boys who needed a place to sunbath. As the rock was not exactly the most comfortable place to lie down, they brought some boards from a nearby ruined shed. The following year the boys put up a roof and walls and a house materialized. To transport the materials they used boats and kayaks. Larger pieces were lowered into the water just a few miles upstream, and then caught at the rock. The house was nearly destroyed several times during flood, but every time it was built from ground up.

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Perucac lake

 

An arteficial lake made by building a dam on Drina, for the needs of the hydroelectric plant ”Bajina Bašta”. It has a surface of 12,4 km², the volume of 340.000 000 m³ of water, and it is up to 60 meters deep. It is 54 km long, and the minimum width of the lake is 150 meters, whereas the maximum is 1000 meters. It is situated at the altitude of 290 meters. The longest part of the lake is canyon-shaped, and it is surrounded by extremely steep rock clifs and rock blocks that dive vertically into the water. The lake is in the natural bend of the canyon of the river Drina between Bajina Bašta and Višegrad, and it surrounds mountain Tara, and its National park of Tara. The bathing season lasts for two months (July and August). The beach in Perućac has pontoons with pools for children. The area for swimming is bordered by buoys, lifeguards are present all the time on the coast or on the life boat. There are also showers, sliders, diving boards, canoes and paddle boats for renting, boats, a lovely restaurant. You can also enjoy boat riding around the lake. There used to be two ships with 60 seats, and they floated through the canyon of Drina from Višegrad to Perućac. Today, it is possible again to travel on a ship in tourist boats, which is a real attraction.

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Drina river

 

One of the most beautiful rivers in Serbia. In ancient times it was called Drinos and people named it Zelenika or Zelenka (Green in Serbian) after colour of its water. It meanders through picturesque mountainous and plain regions of Bosnia and Serbia. On its banks are settled broad ravines with cultivable and inhabited fields as well as steep banks of rugged and canyon type overgrown with willows, poplars and short bushes. The most beautiful and the biggest canyon in its course Drina engraved from Zepa to Klotijevac, 24km long. Length of its course from Scepan polje, where it originates from Piva and Tara to its mouth in Sava is 340 km. The difference in height above sea level between its spring and mouth is 358 km. Width of its course varies from 100-200m in Perucac and Zvornik to 15m in place called Tijesno (Narrow). At Bajina Basta, 54,4 to 698 m3/s of water flows and water level is 34-356 cm. Water temperature is from 8,7-16,3 C. Colour of water is mostly green and it is second class of quality.

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Banjska rock lookout

 

Also known as Goat rock is the most magnificent place on Mount Tara. You can enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of the Lake Perućac Gorge and hydroelectric power plant Bajina Bašta from the viewpoint.

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Waterfall Vrelo

 

Meet the shortest river in Serbia (365m) and make a break near watefall Vrelo in stunning nature environment.

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Mecavnik-Wooden town - optional visit
 

On this tour we also offers optional visit to The Wooden Town, also known as Küstendorf and Mecavnik - a traditional village that the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica built for his film entitled "Life is a Miracle". It is located near the National park "Tara", two hundred kilometers southwest of Serbia's capital, Belgrade. Because of the Wooden Town, Kusturica was the recipient of the Philippe Rotthier European Architecture award in 2005.The Wooden Town has a library, named the Ivo Andrić Library after a Serbian author Ivo Andric, a Nobel Prize winner for literature; an art gallery named Macola in honor of a sculptor Dragan Jovićević (it was previously known as Anika, after a character from Ivo Andric's fiction); Stanley Kubrick Cinema; a main house which houses a cinema-hall in the cellar, a living room, a guest room, a closed yard, a swimming pool, a gym, a sauna and private chambers for the Kusturica family; a sports hall; a restaurant; a cake shop, as well as a souvenir shop; and finally, a Church dedicated to St. Sava, a Serbian Orthodox Church Saint. The streets in the village bear the names of various individuals that Kusturica holds in high esteem or finds to be personally significant: Nikola Tesla, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Diego Maradona, Miodrag Petrović Čkalja, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Joe Strummer, Novak Đoković and of course, Ivo Andrić, who the main street is named after.

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Itinerary

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Departure from Belgrade 8h (hotel pick up), transfer to Tara mountain around 3h, visit to  house on the rock on the Drina river and Vrelo waterfall with coffee stop 11h-12h30. Optional boat cruise 1.5h at Perucac lake. Lunch time at Mitrovac. Banjska rock lookout easy hike 30 min. Optinal visit to Mecavnik wooden town in Mokra Gora. Transfer back to  Belgrade, arrival in the evening at 21-22h.

 

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