Serbia

Outspoken, adventurous, proud and audacious: Belgrade ('White City') is by no means a 'pretty' capital, but its gritty exuberance makes it one of Europe's most happening cities. While it hurtles towards a brighter future, its chaotic past unfolds before your eyes: socialist blocks are squeezed between art nouveau masterpieces, and remnants of the Habsburg legacy contrast with Ottoman relics and socialist modernist monoliths. This is where the Sava and Danube Rivers kiss, an old-world culture that at once evokes time-capsuled communist-era Yugoslavia and new-world, EU-contending cradle of cool.

Grandiose coffee houses and smoky dives pepper Knez Mihailova, a lively pedestrian boulevard flanked by historical buildings all the way to the ancient Belgrade Fortress. The riverside Savamala quarter has gone from ruin to resurrection, and is the city's creative headquarters (for now). Deeper in Belgrade's bowels are museums guarding the cultural, religious and military heritage of the country.

With 220 sq km of forested slopes, dramatic ravines, jewel-like waterways and rewarding views, Tara (part of the Dinaric Alps) is scenic Serbia at its best. The park’s main attraction is the vertigo-inducing Drina River canyon, the third largest of its kind in the world. The gloriously green river slices through the cliffs, offering prime panoramas and ripper rafting; Tara’s two lakes, Perućac and Zaovine, are ideal for calm-water kayaking.

Serbia’s largest population of endangered brown bears is found within Tara’s woods, though you’d be lucky to bump into any. The park is also home to foxes, lynxes, otters and 130-plus types of birds, as well as over 1000 flora species, including the rare Pančić spruce.

Serbia’s largest national park (636 sq km) is also one of its most dramatic, with arresting attractions both natural and human-made. The astounding Iron Gates gorge (Đerdapska klisura) is the park’s main draw; its formidable cliffs – some of which soar over 500m – dip and dive for 100km along the Danube to form a natural border with Romania. The medieval Golubac Fortress, the Mesolithic settlement of Lepenski Vir and the Roman-era Tabula Traiana (commemorating a bridge across the Danube) are testimony to old-time tenacity.

The park itself is home to plenty of critters, including bears, lynxes, wolves, eagles and owls. With marked paths and signposted viewpoints, Đerdap is an excellent hiking destination; the EuroVelo 6 cycling path runs through here.

One of Serbia's most sacred sites, Unesco-listed Studenica was established in 1196 by the founder of the Serbian empire (and future saint) Stefan Nemanja and developed by his sons Vukan, Stefan and Rastko (St Sava). Two well-preserved churches lie within the monastery's impressive white-marble walls. Bogorodičina Crkva (Church of Our Lady) contains Stefan Nemanja's tomb. The smaller Kraljeva Crkva (King's Church) houses the acclaimed Birth of the Virgin fresco and other masterpieces.

The Uvac River's spectacular meanders are the highlight of the 75-sq-km Uvac nature reserve in southwestern Serbia. The incredibly green river snakes through steep limestone rock in a zigzag manner – a feat of nature that's best admired from high above, at Molitva or Veliki vrh lookouts. The reserve, which also comprises a 6km-long cave system, owes its protected status to 219 species of plants, 24 types of fish and 130 bird species including the endangered beloglavi sup (griffon vulture).

Sugar-spun art nouveau marvels, a laid-back populace and a sprinkling of Serbian and Hungarian flavours make this leafy town – the second largest in Vojvodina and practically at the Hungarian border – a worthy day trip or stopover. Once an important and wealthy hub of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Subotica attracted some of the region's most influential architects and artists; their excellently preserved handiwork is today the town's biggest drawcard. It's also one of Serbia's most multicultural towns, with more Hungarians than Serbs, and a sizeable population of Croats.

Eastern Serbia's Negotin region has been producing wine since the 3rd century and is known for native bagrina and začinak varietals. Its atmospheric 19th-century 'wine-cellar villages', or pimnice, are a unique architectural complex of stone wine cellars partially buried into the ground. Some are open for visitors and offer lodgings; try Pimnica Perić (064 1943 065), owned by the sixth generation of the same family.

The Petrovaradin Fortress is stormed by thousands of revellers each July during this epic festival. The first edition, in 2000, lasted 100 days and galvanised a generation of young Serbs against the Milošević regime. The festival has since been attended by the eclectic likes of Prodigy, Gogol Bordello and Motörhead...plus about 200,000 merrymakers from around the world each year.