Escursionismo in Serbia

thanks for sharing more trip.

Beautiful, scenic and diverse loop trail; easy to walk and finding the way with GPS is no problem; the paths are mostly easy to see and less overgrown than expected; except close to the viewpoint we didn’t meet anyone – just some deer and we saw fresh bear tracks 😃

Absolut coole Stadt an der Donau (sicher kein Geheimtipp mehr) ! Stopover bei Busheimreise von Sofia nach D via Zagreb (2-ter Stopover), 2x Hostel-Ü.

I followed this route closely in 2018. It's an excellent route and the waypoint descriptions are extremely helpful. I highly recommend basing your own route around this too.

Uz laganiji tempo i pauzu u hotelu Norcev kod TV tornja, ovo je idealno i za one manje spremne....

After 5 weeks on this beautiful trail through BiH we reached Sarajevo. It is hard to capture all the memorable encounters, views and experience in such a short review. What we can say though is that this trail brought us through small villages, green forests, open fields and semi high mountains. It took us to some beautiful waterfalls, old cities and lovely mountainhuts. But not the least, we met so many wonderful people, which coloured our hike beautifully. All in all a very special trail. Thanks to Eva for putting all the information online! Now some practical remarks; NOTES: - There are still landmines in BiH. We would recommend getting the BHMAC app or check for the maps here: https://www.euforbih.org/index.php/bih-minefield-maps - For the first part of this trail, till Gornji Ribnik, there are a lot of asphalt roads. We tried to find alternatives, but did not always succeed. We would suggest to focus most of your energy on this first part to find alternatives. - We did not have any problems with stray dogs. They are there and will bark, but if you just walk on it should be fine. - OSM is rather limited in BiH. So if you want to find alternatives, we would suggest getting paper maps. Eva did some suggestions here: https://www.evadinaricaproject.com/en/via-dinarica-practical-information/ - The route down from Tvrtkovac is non existing. Eva added a waypoint ‘do not follow me’, however it is a bit late (we found out the hard way). The right turn is probably here: 44,29129, 18,08147 ( 44°17′28.64″N 18°04′53.29″E ). - As it is not possible to add waypoint to the route in OA, we added POI (such as waterpoints, rest areas etc) directly in OSM (through maps.me) ALTERNATIVES: - From Vrs Krh Zvijezda (after Vares) the route seems to go through a mine suspected area. As we wanted to take a shortcut anyway, we went down to Zubeta - Nisici - Dusevine (back on track). This is not a recommendable alternative, it was rather because of practical considerations. - From the Croatian border to Una NP there is a lot of road walking. We did not find a satisfying alternative, but it is a bit better we think. Look for: ‘ Croatian border - entrance Una NP alternative EVA’S Via Dinarica Green Trail ‘ - ‘ Martin Brod - Dvrar alternative EVA’S Via Dinarica Green Trail ‘. Good alternative to avoid road walking and add an extra store along the trail. - ‘ Dvrar - Potoci alternative EVA’S Via Dinarica Green Trail’ . Getting back to the trail. Nice way up and then through forests. - ‘ Potoci - Ribnik alternative EVA’S Via Dinarica Green Trail ‘. Eva proposed a short cut for this part (‘ Short cut Potoci - Vucija Poljana ‘), but we would not recommend that one (it adds a lot of km’s and follows a rather boring road). Our alternatives follows the quiet car road, which is not ideal, but at least shorter. PRACTICALITIES: Food: Izacic, Bihac, Kulen Vakuf, Dvrar, Gornji Ribnik, Jajce, Han Bila, Zenica (off route), Vares, Gajevi, Sarajevo Water: No problem most of the times, just ask at the houses. Long stretches without water are; Ripac - Strbacki buk (20km), 4 km after Dvar just before you go up (houses) - Potoci. Sleeping: most of the times we did gardencamps. There were also some wildcamps, mounainhuts and other accomodation. Usually there are several options along the trail.

We´ve been walking the tour in october 2018 from Postojna to Ogulin. Postojna was easy to reach by taking a bus from Lubijana. The ride was about 45 min and took us quite close to the trail. Day 1 – Postojna – bus stop -- Dom Rak - youth hostel (~20km): In general, an easy way, mostly through the forest. But without GPS it would have been hard to find in some points, because some of the ways didn´t seem to be used that often. At Dom Rak is some kind of national park, with a big cave and some natural bridges. The owner of the youth hostel allowed us to sleep in his garden. There was no possibility to buy food close by, but it was possible to eat and have a drink at the hotel next door. Day 2 - Dom Rak – Ževronica – Tekavca Ograda Farm (~25km): First part of the day, we´ve been walking further through the forest. After that we crossed some villages. At Cerknica (~15km) were two supermarkets. After Cernika we got a bit lost, because the GPS route guided us through a big field without clear pathways and partly ankle-high water. Later we figured out, that this field is a lake during late autumn and spring. So probably it would have been better to take this way in summer. But the landscape was quite nice and the stay at the Tekavara Ograda Farm at Ževronica very recommendable. We were able to sleep in the garden of the farm and to use the shower. The next morning, we got an amazingly big breakfast for 10 Eur. But one of the most important recognitions of the day, which followed us for the rest of the tour, were that the region still has a big population of bears. So it´s better to keep this in mind, when choosing your place to sleep at night, even if the risk is not too high. Day 3 – Ževronica – Bela Voda – garden camp (~30km): That day the trail was mostly through the forrest with some pitches. In the last village before Bela Voda was the possibility to buy some food and fill up some water. There is no public camping side in that area and also no good places for wild camping, but in Bela Voda were some people who gave us the possibility to sleep in their garden. Day 4 – Bela Voda – Horse Ranche (Kocev ka Reka) (~30km): Most of the day we´ve been walking along a street with fast cars, crossing some small villages without shops. The village which we reached at the end of the day had neither a place to sleep, nor a possibility to buy some food at the evening. There was just a small bar, with a guy who recommended us to sleep down the hill at the lake. There we found a roofed viewing platform, that was big enough for our tent, and a clean lake. The next morning we were also able to refill our food at the small village store. Day 5 – Kocev ka Reka – Fara (Vas) (~25km): That day we finally reached a real hiking trail again. A nice tour along a mountain top, nice views and a lot of pitches. In Fara (Vas) we were allowed to stay at the garden of a nice old guy and refill our water. Day 6 Fara (Vas) – Skrad (~15km): In the morning we crossed to border to Croatia. After a short way along a street we entered a national park with a waterfall. In Skrad we stayed at Mountain Lodge Skrad. In Skard were two stores and also the possibility to order some food from the Mountain Lodges owners restaurant. Day 7 – Skrad – Vrboskow (~30km): The first part of the day was on a nice hiking trail, the second part was along a street down to Vrboskow. On the way we crossed some stores. At Vrboskow we stayed at the described picknick biwak next to a restaurant. Day 8 – Vrboskow – Mount Klek (~27km): The way description away from Vrboskow was quite confusing. Following the GPS route we lost the direction several times. Some of the ways didn’t exist anymore. In the end we found an alternative way along a forrest street, without crossing any village the entire day. But the last kilometres up to Klek mountain hut were quite beautiful and also required some climbing. Unfortunately the hut was closed (end of season 1st of October) and no water to find. We had luck meeting someone who was there for some after season cleaning who switched on the water for us. The night we stayed at the mountain top. Day 9 – Mount Klek – Ogoulin (~12km): After an amazing sunrise we climbed down to Ogoulin. A nice trail down and a lot of infrastructure in Ogoulin. From Ogoulin we took the train to the coast.