Village Tourism in Serbia

If you're interested in spending your holidays in a magical setting somewhere in Serbia – like the picturesque villages on Mt. Zlatibor, Mt. Divčibare and Mt. Tara near the Drina River, in central Šumadija, Vojvodina, eastern or southern Serbia – you will want to know about Jat Air Lift's arrangements.

By Branislav Bajagić
Photo by Dragan Bosnić

The future of the world tourist industry is in village tourism, according to many tourist-industry analysts, and this trend presents a fortuitous opportunity for a better life in Serbia. Village tourism, also known as rural, eco, ranch, farm, sustainable, ecological, green, and ethno tourism, is gaining ground in many European countries, but is most highly developed in France, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland. Serbia, it would seem, has the best conditions for the development of this form of tourism among European countries. Its advantages in this respect include an excellent geographical location, healthy food, rich folklore and traditions, interesting customs, a diverse landscape that is suitable for all forms of recreation, a long cultural heritage, and above all, cordial and hospitable hosts. Not surprisingly, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of domestic and foreign tourists who spend their holidays in Serbia.

What does such a holiday look like? After visitors arrive by JAT Airways to the Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport, they are taken to a fine village by an air-conditioned and comfortable mini-van. At the threshold of the chosen household, your hosts – donned in national costume – welcome their guests in the traditional manner by offering bread, salt, plum brandy and juice. After settling in and resting in comfortable and clean rooms, lunch is served. After lunch, visitors get acquainted with the household and spend some time with their hosts.

Dinner is served in the front yard, on the terrace or in the orchard – the menu includes roast meat with cold water from the well. After that comes conversation, often witty, accompanied by music, song and drink.

In the morning, guests awaken to the music of birdsong and the lady of the house offers home-made strawberry preserve, coffee and home-made brandy. Naturally, there will also be the unavoidable cheese and egg pie, white cheese, kajmak, milk and ham, the traditional village breakfast.

Fully invigorated and prepared for exploration, guests may then want to go on a tour of the village and its environs, take a walk in the woods, pick wild berries, mushrooms, or collect herbs and snails. Some may prefer to ride their mountain bikes or go horseback riding across fields, meadows, orchards and clearings. Others may want to spend their time by the river, go fishing, or even hunting.

The largest number of visitors, however, will find the most delight in the everyday routine of village life; picking sour cherries, apricots, peaches, and apples in the scent-imbued orchards are joys about which city-dwellers know little. Of course, you may eat as much fruit as you want, but you may also want to make jam, preserve or juice for you own later use. Distilling brandy is yet another craft which guests can learn as goes for grinding wheat, cutting grass by hand and collecting hay. This type of physical activity is much preferable to sweating in a gym.

For those interested in vegetable growing, guests can learn how to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, green beans, carrots and other vegetables in a healthy way. Guests can even lease a plot of land to grow vegetables with the assistance of their hosts, which they can then take home.

Children will discover a new world after spending a few days with shepherds, playing with lambs and running around with other children across wide meadows. During this time, mothers may want to try their hand at preparing traditional dishes or learning handiwork, embroidery, weaving, knitting and the like.

Some guests may want to focus on cultural traditions, preferring to spend more time learning about cultural heritage, touring local events (gatherings, fairs, weddings, folklore occasions), or visiting old craftsmen, Naive art painters, sculptors, archaeological digs, churches and world famous Serbian monasteries. Visits to Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Niš are possible as are visits to other parts of Serbia by way of shorter or longer organised tours.

In addition to all this, other more traditional forms of recreation and entertainment are also available such as swimming in rivers, lakes or swimming pools, playing football, volleyball, basketball, lawn tennis, paragliding, flying sports aircrafts, ballooning, and going out to cafes or discotheques.

We have packed all this and much more into our package programmes as part of the Air Lift offer, in the hope that your holiday will be memorable.

Welcome to Serbia!

Other Air Lift arrangements: Include tours of monasteries, spas, horseback riding, rafting, Belgrade City Break, and Čigota. www.jat-airlift.co.yu