Fantastic two-day tour filled with natural beauty, local experience, history and enjoyment for all senses will make it memorable. Iron Gate Gorge with its spectacular Golubac Fortress and Lepenski Vir archaeological site, unique Rajac Wine Cellars together with warm and hospitable people of East Serbia are main reasons why you should take this tour, but also just a fraction of what this tour and region has to offer.

What to Expect From the Iron Gate Gorge and Highlights of East Serbia Tour in 2023

Expect two active days in East Serbia, where you’ll combine history, nature, local bites and wine. All in one trip. You’ll meet fantastic locals and hear stories from them about their life, careers and personal experiences. If you look for more ideas to spend time in the Iron Gates take a look at Iron Gate Gorge Hike And Boat Ride Tour.

Highlights

First Day

#YourSerbiaHost will meet you at your Belgrade hotel or other place of your stay in the morning hours (usual start time at 9am). After an almost two hour drive you’ll reach the first stop at Golubac Fortress. Breathtaking fortress on the shore of Danube which guards the entrance to Iron Gate Gorge. Here you’ll wander its paths and climb the towers.

After a short drive from the fortress you’ll reach Lepenski Vir. This archaeological site is the very first organized settlement in Europe and certainly one of the most significant places for understanding modern civilization.

In the heart of Iron Gate Gorge we will take a break for lunch at a unique place, Captain Miša’s Hill household. Aside from the food you’ll experience its unusual ambience, great views and local customs.

After lunch we’ll take you further down the road till the most iconic viewpoints over the Iron Gate Gorge. You’ll observe Mali and Veliki kazan Ravines as well as Decibel’s sculpture carved in stone, across on the Romanian side.

After a day filled with impressions you’ll arrive to Negotin, a small town on the very east of the country, where we’ll spend a night in a cozy hotel located in the town. Here you’ll have the opportunity to explore town on your own and get to know local life.

Second Day

In the morning after breakfast you’ll continue to the village Rajac which is famous for their “Pivnice” – special wine cellars created for storing grapes after vintage and for wine aging. These wine cellar complexes are specific to this area and cannot be found anywhere else. There are around 270 Pivnicas in Rajac. Rajac village, besides cellars has one more specificity, an old cemetery where some of the tombstones date from the XVIII century.  The main reason for visiting this village is wine, so we’ll stop at a local winery for a wine tasting and get familiar with this wine region and its grape varieties.

You’ll say goodbye to Rajac and you’ll continue further towards “Timočka Krajina” and the imperial palace Felix Romuliana which has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 2007. This palace was built in the IV century for Roman Emperor Gaius Valerius Maximianus, who was a pagan and great prosecutor of Christians. You’ll learn about one unusual custom of converting rulers to gods after death during the apotheosis.

From Felix Romuliana you’ll continue towards mountain Rtanj which is connected to many legends and mysteries. At the foot of the mountain, in the village Ilino we’ll stop by for lunch in one very special place, an ethnic complex made completely by hands and after the idea of Dušan Milisavljević, a man who is specialized in wood carving and fine carpentry.

After lunch in Ilino we continue to Belgrade where we arrive in the evening.

Good to Know