Day trips from Vrnjačka Banja

Vrnjačka Banja makes a good base for trips to the medieval monasteries of the Ibar and West Morava valleys. The three best known are 15 to 70 kilometres away, so each takes half a day or a day, back in the spa the same evening.

The nearest is Ljubostinja, Princess Milica’s foundation of 1388, about 15 km and twenty minutes by car, near Trstenik. Žiča, the red-fronted coronation church and seat of the first Serbian archbishopric, is about 28 km and 40 minutes away, on the edge of Kraljevo. The farthest and most important is Studenica, Nemanja’s white-marble foundation and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 67 km and an hour and a half by car.

Žiča and Studenica are on the same road, so they combine easily into one full-day trip: Žiča in the morning, then up the Ibar valley to Studenica. Ljubostinja suits an afternoon after a morning at the pool.

The car is the easiest way. All three are living monasteries, with monks or nuns, so dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and do not take photos inside the churches without permission. Groups wanting a guide should let the monastery know in advance.