In 60 seconds
The Uvac Special Nature Reserve protects one of the most photographed landscapes in Serbia: a dammed river that doubles back on itself in tight entrenched meanders between limestone walls several hundred metres high. It is also one of Europe's strongholds of the griffon vulture, with a few hundred birds nesting on the cliffs and riding the thermals above the water. Boats run up the lake in the warmer half of the year to the Ice Cave in the Ušak system, and a short climb from the shore reaches the viewpoint from which the meanders are seen whole. The nearest town, Sjenica, sits high on the Pešter plateau, is among the coldest inhabited places in the country, and gives its name to a hard sheep's cheese and a famous lamb.
Best for
Known for
Skip if
You want anything resembling a resort; this is a working highland district with a reserve at the end of a rough road.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Uvac & Sjenica fits them. Choose interests
See
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Tightly folded river loops between limestone cliffs, the signature landscape of the reserve
Seen properly only from above; the water-level view gives no sense of how far the river doubles back.
Ranger-accompanied boat trip up the reservoir through the canyon to the cave and the viewpoint path
Book ahead rather than turning up: places are limited and the reserve runs on reservations.
Chamber of the Ušak cave system opening off the lake, hung with flowstone and columns
Bring a jacket even in August; the cave holds its cold regardless of the day outside.
Nesting ledges on the canyon walls holding one of Europe's larger griffon vulture populations
Mid-morning, once the thermals build, is when the birds come off the ledges and start circling.
Eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Where to eat the food this city is actually known for.
Town and roadside kitchens roasting the highland lamb the district is known for across Serbia
Order the lamb and nothing else; it is why people drive up here from Belgrade for lunch.
Dairies and market stalls selling the hard, salty sheep's cheese matured in skins
Buy a wedge at the market and eat it with proja; shipping it home is the usual regret.
Beyond the obvious
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Clifftop belvedere above the sharpest of the meanders, on a short steep path from the shore
Half an hour of climbing for the view that appears on every poster of Serbia; go at first light.
Bleak high karst plateau above Sjenica with a cave system and scattered shepherds' summer huts
Drive up for the emptiness; this is the landscape that makes Sjenica's cheese and lamb what they are.
Orientation
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Plain highland market town on the plateau, the service centre for the whole district
Useful rather than charming: fuel, a bank, a market and somewhere to sleep before the reserve.
Stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Small hotels in town and guesthouses on the roads toward the lake and the viewpoints
Sleep as close to the reserve entrance as you can manage; the best light is well before the first boat.
Practical
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
The Pešter plateau's caves and karst sinks were used by herders and hunters long before the surrounding valleys were settled.
Sjenica grew as a market and garrison town on the highland route between Novi Pazar and the Bosnian frontier.
The Uvac dams were completed, raising the river and turning its entrenched meanders into the chain of lakes seen today.
Uvac was placed under protection, and the griffon vulture colony recovered from near-collapse under a long feeding and monitoring programme.
Further out
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Pine-covered mountain and a long reservoir above Nova Varoš, on the reserve's western side
The other half of the Uvac system, quieter still, and the easiest place to swim in the district.
Ottoman bazaar town and the UNESCO-listed monasteries of the Raška valley
The obvious pairing: wilderness one day, medieval frescoes and a bazaar the next.
