Hiking in Serbia

Be sure to check Hiking in Europe page for additional information and links.

As of 2023, Serbia is not part of Schengen. Thus Americans can spend 3 months in Schengen zone plus 3 months in Serbia.

Best time of year to hike is September through November. Late spring (May) and early summer (June) are typically wet, with lots of ticks and mosquitoes at lower elevations. July and August can be very hot. After November, temperatures can be very cold, with snow in winter.

I encountered no ticks while hiking through dense brush and camping in forests at low elevation in July and August 2023. In some areas of the world, nymph ticks go dormant in July/August, after being active through June, then reemerge as adults in September. Possibly that is true in Serbia, though I'm not sure.

Chiggers might be problem, because my legs and buttocks were itching terribly and covered with oozing sores towards end 2023 hike, after hiking through high grass and brush on overgrown trails. Constant salty perspiration flowing into sores aggravated itching.

Sultan's Trail

Digital pack, including current GPX and PDF with resupply and lodging info, can be purchased/downloaded from official trail website. Be sure to replace official GPX files in main folders with newer GPX files in "Tracks 2022 Modified" or similarly named folder.

I hiked Serbia section of Sultan's Trail in July/August 2023 (see here). Trail was badly overgrown south of Belgrade, so advisable for clothing and gear to be sturdy enough not to tear on blackberry and rose thorns, or else carry pruning shears to cut away these thorns and other brush. No ticks encountered anywhere on trail, including while camping. Lots of annoying flies and mosquitoes, however. Issues with official GPX as of summer 2023 (notes below assume north to south direction of travel, map assumed to be from OpenAndroMaps):

Several km south of Bački Breg, GPX leaves dirt road and enters dense brush. Stay on dirt farm roads shown on map, which lead back to GPX after about 2km.
At Deronje, GPX crosses bridge, but trail guide says fish farm discourages use of west side canal road, so stay on east side for another 4km, then turn east after crossing irrigation ditch, eventually reaching paved road and rejoining GPX at south end of Bač.
As of 2023, Croatia part of Schengen. For those unable to enter Schengen for whatever reason, take bus from Bačka Palanka to Novi Sad then either skip Fruška Gora or backtrack on GPX and make circle tour of Fruška Gora.
GPX shows 3 routes from Sremski Karlovci to Belgrade. For west route, after Velika Remeta monastery, GPX leaves dirt road and heads towards beehives surrounded by buzzing bees, then overgrown forest trail: best to stay on road. Highways between Indjija and Stara Pazova and between Batajnica and Zemun lack shoulders, so if leaving GPX to reach accommodation, best to return to GPX next day, versus using highway as shortcut. Sidewalk along highway between Stara and Nova Pazova and grassy shoulder between Nova Pazova and Batajnica. Railroads in area often very difficult to cross, unless map clearly shows road crossing, because of brush filled ditches between tracks and on sides of tracks.
At south end of Belgrade, GPX leaves Zemljoradnička for side streets then dirt road badly overgrown by thorns as of 2023. Overgrowth will soon make road impassable. Better to stick to Zemljoradnička and rejoin GPX on other side of expressway.
About 2km after crossing expressway, between Avala and Grocka, GPX forks left from good dirt onto heavily overgrown dirt road, including thorns. Better to follow alternative shown on map: continue on good dirt road another 100m, then fork left, rejoin GPX about 500m later. Alternative also overgrown, though not so badly as GPX route. About 1km after alternative rejoins GPX, another 500m of heavy overgrowth, including thorns. It would be easy to clear this overgrowth with a tractor, since these are abandoned roads, not trails.
About 6km south of Smederevo fortress and about 500m south of Obilazni Pyt highway, dirt road overgrown for 500m. Alternative is parallel dirt road about 500m to west, then turn east about 1.5km south of Obilazni Pyt and rejoin GPX. All these dirt roads shown on map.
Shortly after Rlica, trail to Srndalje is terribly overgrown, including blackberry and rose thorns and nettles. Strongly recommend taking road from Rlica through Mala Reka to Srndalje. Detour adds maybe 5km distance but probably reduces time and definitely reduces effort.
Just after Vukanja, stay on paved road. 1km shortcut is completely overgrown.
About 7km after Grebac, GPX leaves paved road for overgrown dirt road. Overgrowth minor other than where road leaves forest, where overgrowth very bad, with dense mat of blackberry and rose thorns. Able to get through in August 2023, but might be problem in future without tools to cut vegetation. Alternative is remain on paved road to Padina.
About 8km east of Padina, GPX route appears to have been plowed under and planted with maize. Alternative is grassy dirt road leading northeast about 900m, then east and parallel to GPX. After crossing paved road, follow dike road and rejoin GPX at bridge.
Sićevo Gorge trail (Roman military road aka Rimski Put) overgrown with tree saplings, shrubs, blackberry and rose thorns. Able to get through in August 2023, but might be problem in future without tools to cut vegetation. At 10km GPX distance from Sićevo, take grass road in yellow labeled GP on map. Upon reaching paved road, stay on it to avoid another stretch of overgrowth.
On way into Pirot, about 400m before reaching highway 39, GPX turns north onto farm road then later disappears into brush where it was supposed to turn east. Dirt road east exists, other than initial 200m of GPX route. So use other farm roads to move at least 200m east before proceeding north. Google maps satellite view might be useful. Note that farm roads can quickly disappear if plowed under and planted with crops.

Navigation

Locus mapping GPS app for Android discussed on GPS page. As of 2023, LoMap map of Serbia, available in Locus map library, is high quality, but map at OpenAndroMaps.org is best, in my opinion. For external maps, be sure to download both map and map theme/style. All these maps are offline, meaning downloaded to smartphone in advance and do not require internet connection for use.

OruxMaps another mapping GPS app for Android. Does not have built-in map library, but does support OpenAndroMaps maps and map themes/styles.

GaiaGPS mapping GPS app runs on both Android and IPhone. Builtin Gaia topo map is adequate, if combined with GPX track. Download map data to smartphone in advance for offline use.

For all maps, whether electronic or paper, paved road information usually accurate, but forest road and path information less reliable, for usual reasons: sometimes more or less roads/paths in actuality than shown on map, roads/paths may be overgrown or abandoned or blocked by fences, roads/paths may be routed differently from what is shown on map. Even Google Earth cannot be fully trusted, since satellite photos cannot show thin barbed wire fences with "do not enter" signs blocking roads. On other side of such fences may be owners hostile to trespassers, dangerous loose bulls, packs of vicious dogs, etc.

Language

Based on my experiences in 2023, English levels are high, especially in larger towns and big cities and among young people. I used either English or modified Russian (Russian with some words replaced by Serbian equivalents).

Complete Serbian/Serbo-Croatian courses with MP3 audio available at Yojik.eu. I worked through FSI Serbo-Croatian course, which improved my Serbian reading ability. However, I will probably continue to speak either English or modified Russian in Serbia. Anki Serbian-English sentence deck https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/995144121

Smartphone

Serbia country telephone code +381.

I used Yettel for 2023 hike and for 2024 long stay in Beograd. Service worked fine both years. In 2024, I bought introductory tourist pack with SIM at airport, for $7 for 15GB for 15 days. When this expires, add money to account using Yettle app for Android (I paid via USA Mastercard), then use account balance to buy additional service packs, either $7 for 3.6GB for 30 days or $12 for 12GB for 30 days. App is Serbian language only, using Latin alphabet, but not difficult to navigate or use.

Hotels and other lodging

Booking.com very useful for finding both hotels and apartments for short-term rental. Sometimes booking.com shows vacancy in but hotel is closed or no vacancy: system will not process reservation in this case.

Airbnb.com another possibility for finding lodging.