Go outdoors with Via Serbia

Hiking? Serbia? Not usually words you think of in the same sentence. Check out Via Serbia, a young startup organizing hikes, cultural excursions, and nature experiences to get you outside.

---

Belgrade, Serbia is known for its night-life. With its floating clubs (splav) and bar culture, it’s not a hard reputation to keep. But at some point, staring into the bottom of a rakija glass, you wonder: okay, what else is there?

A lot, actually. The Serbian countryside with its sweeping prairies, limestone cliffs, mountains, and winding river valleys have so much natural beauty to offer — if you can make it out of Belgrade!

More people are opting outside than ever before, and Serbs are no exception. But unlike areas with more developed trails, Serbian trails are generally less maintained and usually not marked with blazes. Trail descriptions are also harder to find.

While there are some sites such as Wikiloc, which allows hikers to log and share routes, descriptions are typically in Serbian or lacking. There is one published guidebook, but it’s not exactly light enough to be trail-friendly reading. Local mountaineering clubs do have scheduled outings, but the clubs are tailored more to longterm residents than the casual tourist.

Via Serbia is trying to change that.

 ·    ·    ·

Founded by Aleksandra “Saška” Cvetkovic and Nemanja Potrebic, Via Serbia is an outdoors organization which wants to bring people closer to nature.

“We were literally brought back together by nature,” Saška said. “The idea to establish Via Serbia has existed since I was in elementary school, but we finally took the first steps to establishing the company while hiking in Suva Planina.”

I first met Saška in smoky cafe in December 2017. I was interested in joining a Via Serbia tour, but I was a bit worried about going on an overnight winter hike with strangers. Okay, I was also pretty concerned that Via Serbia had no other web presence other than their Facebook page.

Walking into the cafe, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After months of being rebuffed by the local mountaineering clubs or being grilled about my exact mountaineering experience, Saška was not what I expected.

Saška was chill.

She welcomed me like an old friend and quickly walked me through the trip details. We talked about equipment and preparation, the trip leaders’ guiding experience, and the kind of terrain to expect. Even though Via Serbia had only been operational for a month, Saška’s methodical planning and outdoors expertise eased my anxieties.

The Via Serbia team has a wide range of specialists, from cultural tourism specialists to mountaineering guides and yoga instructors who oversee their tours. Each month, Via Serbia hosts outdoor activities ranging from kayaking to hiking, cultural experiences, and nature-related workshops.

“The goal is to use these activities to bring both Serbians and tourists closer to nature, Serbian traditions, village culture, and local industries,” Saška said.

And they’re doing a good job of it. On my first tour with Via Serbia, I spent New Year’s Eve and Day with an incredible group of like-minded people.

We worked through the language barrier with Saška’s help to have a fantastic experience filled with great food, Serbian music, and my first Serbian summit.

And perhaps the best part: after the three-day trip, Via Serbia took the time to set up a Facebook group so participants could share photos and stay in touch. That checks off all the boxes, doesn’t it?

Instead of providing just a outdoors tour experience, Via Serbia actively builds a community of nature enthusiasts whose interests range from extreme sufferfest summit bids to those who just want to unplug from the city life for a day.

 ·    ·    ·

With a growing Facebook fanbase and returning participants — both residents and tourists — Via Serbia has grown quite a bit in just its first year.

So what’s in store for the future?

“We will not only continue to organize travels around Serbia, but also abroad to Montenegro, Georgia, and Costa Rica,” Saška said, adding that co-founder Nemanja just returned from a Via Serbia trip to Cuba and that they’re also in the talks for an itinerary to trek in Nepal.

These destinations draw on the foundations Via Serbia team members lay as they travel and adventure on their own time. This past summer, team member Filip Šulovic spent 14 days on an unsupported backpacking trip through the Caucasus in Georgia. In a few months, Saška will head to South America for a second reconnaissance trip.

If you’re headed to Serbia or traveling abroad from Serbia, get in touch with Via Serbia to plan your next outdoors adventure. An official website is in the works, but in the meantime, check out their Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Let Saška and Nemanja’s team be your local experts.

 ·    ·    ·

All opinions in this article are my own. I have not accepted payment or been offered compensation for the opinions held. All experiences with Via Serbia have been paid for by myself.

The goal of this piece is to provide an additional web presence for local companies with local fanbases, particularly companies which have social media presences but lack an official website.