Zlatibor District: Nature, Culture and Winter Sports

Zlatibor in Zlatibor District is a destination with protected nature, mountain sports, cycle paths and historic cultural sites. The Government of Serbia declared Zlatibor a nature park in 2017. Zlatibor Nature Park preserves meadows, pastures and centuries-old pine forests in a landscape of ecological, biological, cultural and aesthetic value.

Stopića Cave is protected by the state as a natural monument of exceptional importance. Stopića Cave lies between Rožanstvo and Trnava, a few hundred metres from the Zlatibor–Sirogojno road and 19 kilometres from the tourist centre of Zlatibor. Zlatibor is also home to 10 strictly protected Munika pines; individual specimens reach heights of up to 35 metres and are several hundred years old.

The area around the Gostilje waterfall has visitor paths with benches and a children’s playground. Zlatibor has a botanical garden where visitors can learn more about the medicinal plants found in the region.

Tornik Ski Centre has five ski slopes with a total length of around 10 kilometres. All five of Tornik’s ski slopes are equipped with artificial snowmaking, extending the winter season to around 100 days. The 9-kilometre Gold Gondola connects the centre of Zlatibor with Tornik Ski Centre via Lake Ribničko; the journey takes around 25 minutes. The intermediate station of the Gold Gondola is located at Lake Ribničko, while its mountain station is situated at the summit of Tornik at an altitude of 1,496 metres.

The Centar–Tornik hiking trail leads from Kraljev trg via Tusto brdo, Kobilja glava, Separacija, Beli kamen and Ribnica to Tornik Ski Centre. Zlatibor’s cycle network runs through scenic areas on well-maintained and signposted routes with gentle ascents and descents. Tornik Ski Centre offers mountain bike trails named Ribnica, Beli kamen, Previja and Vidikovac.

The Staro Selo Sirogojno open-air museum covers five hectares and presents log houses relocated here from villages throughout the Zlatibor area. The Staro Selo Sirogojno open-air museum documents residential culture in the Zlatibor area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In summer, Staro Selo Sirogojno offers training in cooperage, blacksmithing and pottery in three equipped workshops.

The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Sirogojno dates from 1764 and has an iconostasis by Simeon Lazović. In the vicinity of Zlatibor, around 25 kilometres from the centre, the log cabin church in Jablanica was built in 1838 and dedicated to the Protection of the Mother of God.

The Šumatno brdo memorial comprises an ossuary for the partisan fighters killed in 1941 at Kraljeve Vode and Palisad, as well as a 10-metre-high white-stone obelisk erected in 1967. The International Sports Film Festival is a competition for documentary and feature films from around the world on sports-related themes.

In the vicinity of Zlatibor, visitors can view, taste and buy specialities made from cured meat at Pršutijada, including beef and pork pršuta, stelja, bacon and sausages.

Other places for orientation: Perućac, Kamenica, Rudine, Drijetanj, Kremna, Tvrdići, Rosići, Duškovci, Rožanstvo, Šljivovica, Gostilje, Nikojevići, Prijepolje, Sainovina, Nova Varoš, Kneževac, Brdo, Priboj, Draglica, Mačkat, Ponikovica, Kosjeric, Rakovica, Mitrovac, Semegnjevo, Rastište, Banja, Arilje, Mokra Gora, Sjenica, Ljubis, Zaovine, Požega, Bajina Bašta, Kaludjerske Bare, Divcibare, Zlatibor, Užice.

For the higher-level travel overview: Central Serbia.