Serbia - About the Country

Serbia is officially called the Република Србија (Republika Srbija, Republic of Serbia). The landlocked country in southeastern Europe is surrounded by former yugoslavian countries, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. The northern third are the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain, the capital Belgrade is located at the Danube, and while there are no underground sites in the lowland, they start with the hill-country south of the Capital. Most tourist sites are in these low hills, the central third of the country. They are surrounded by two mountain ridges, the last third of the country, which consists of the nort-south running Carpathian and Balkan Mountains along the eastern border, and the northwest to southeast running Dinaric Alps in the southern and southwestern part. As most mountains are composed of limestone there are also a lot of cave but much less tourist sites.

Caused by the geography the climate is quite different in the parts of the country. The climate in the North is more continental, with cold winters, and hot, humid summers along with well-distributed rainfall patterns. In the south, summers and autumns are drier, but the winters are relatively cold, with heavy inland snowfall in the mountains.

Despite the closeness to the Mediterranean Sea, almost all rivers of Serbia drain to the Black Sea, through the Danube river. The Danube is the major source of fresh water, used for transport and to generate electricity. Quite famous is Đerdap (Iron Gates) at the border to Romania, where the Danube is quite narrow and used to produce electricity at a shared dam. Main tributaries in Serbia are the Great Morava, Sava and Tisza rivers.

Serbia is not a mass-tourism destination but in 2019 over 3.6 million tourists were recorded, with about half inland tourism and half foreign tourism. Important tourist destinations are Belgrade, Novi Sad, the mountains and spas, natural wonders like Đavolja varoš, Orthodox monasteries, and river cruises on the Danube.