A couple of years back, we visited the Serbian capital - Belgrade. And to be honest, it wasn't my favorite city in the Balkans - you can read my post here. This year, we decided to go back and rediscover Serbia again. Not only did we give Belgrade another chance, but also wanted to see some other places in this little Balkan country. One of them was the beautiful Uvac River Canyon - a place that can be tricky to get to and is virtually unknown among tourists outside of Serbia. In this article I'll focus mainly on how to reach the Uvac River Canyon by public transport (if you cannot drive). I will also show the exact points of the maps where to start the hike if you have your own car and where the best viewpoints are.

How to get to Uvac River Canyon by public transport (if you don't drive)

Although Uvac River could be one of the most visited attractions in Serbia - I have some bad news - public transport to that place is not available at all. Most people would drive - and most of the visitors are local. The viewpoints were extremely quiet when we were there - there were only 2-3 people around. We didn't drive this time and really wanted to see the canyon. So we had to figure out how to get there without a car.

Now, there are good news too. Even though there is no public transport, getting to Uvac is easier and less expansive than you might have imagined. First, you must reach one of the two southern towns in Serbia - Zlatibor or Novi Pazar. We chose the latter as it was very close to the border with Kosovo as we continued our journey down to Prishtina (you ca read muy post about Prishtina here). The bus from Belgrade to Novi Pazar takes a bit over 5 hours and costs approximately 1000 - 1400 Serbian Dinars (RSD) which is approximately 10 EUR (11 USD) on average.

When you are in Novi Pazar, you can go to one of the tourist offices there. It doesn't matter which one - they will know drivers who will take you to the little village of Sjenica first and then on to the starting point of the hike towards Uvac viewpoints. Alternatively, you can also prebook it online. The price was around 25 EUR per person which is really not bad. The tour operator we used was called Serbian Adventures. But to be honest it was quite difficult to deal with them as they did not respond right away and we were not sure whether they would organize the transposrt to the canyon or not.But they finally did. Then, it turned out that it was only two of us that took the tour.

Some tours offer a boat ride down the river where you can also see a cave. It was included in the tour we took initially, however, due to some reasons (we were told - the weather), our boat ride was cancelled and we were only left with the hike. Make sure that your tour includes the hike to the viewpoints because some of them only offer the boat ride. It's not possible to see the beautiful and unique shape from the boat and the level of the river.

Where is the best viewpoint of Uvac River Canyon

From Novi Pazar, we were taken to the village of Sjenica (it took 1h 15 mins) where the information center about the region was located. The building is brand new, however, there were no tourists there whatsoever. Then, another car was provided - we were driven by a local guy to the starting point of the trail. It was around 20 minutes away from Sjenica. If you drive, here are the exact coordinates where you have to turn left from the main road number 21: 43.340801, 20.007429. The road here is in a bad condition and soon it's just gravel - it's not paved. Right before a little stream we were told we had to start the trail. It was around 5 km and it took just a bit more than the hour to get to the best viewpoint overlooking the Uvac River canyon.

The name of the viewpoint is Molitva 2 and the exact location is here 43.3597697, 19.9534172 (take a look at the screenshot of the map). There are a few other viewpoints around the Uvac River - so take your time to explore.

Uvac River Canyon - Is it worth visiting?

The Uvac river in this place creates spectacular meanders and its turns are quite unique while seen from the cliff above. It might slightly remind you of the Horseshoe bend in the USA, however, Uvac is incomparably smaller. It does look spectacular in the photos and it is an amazing place, however, it seemed way less grand in real life. Nevertheless, it is really worth visiting - especially considering how cheap and easy it is.

The Uvac River area is also amazing for bird watching - especially eagles and hawks - you can see them flying back and forth over the river continuosly.

Novi Pazar

The little town of Novi Pazar is very quiet as well as picturesque. You can stroll the main streets and visit the fortress area. What's interesting about Novi pazar is the fact that here you can see how diverse the Balkans are. In the northern parts of Serbia, you can spot the same looking towns or villages as in the south - however, the churches give place to the mosques and the architecture in places bears more and more remnants of the Ottoman Empire. This is what makes Balkans so interesting - so many cultures mixed around. Unfortunately, as we all know, it also caused a lot of trouble.

When visiting Novi Pazar, you will of also enjoy the food, of course. We had the best ever freshly baked flat bread there. Serbia and the Balkans are amazing when it comes to food. And, also - the prices.