Here’s a little something that’s been discussed lately in Serbia (Bganon wrote about his experience at a countryside some time ago) as one of the potential hidden goldmines that we can offer to tourists. Village, rural, or countryside tourism, whatever you like to call it, has been getting popular in the world lately. Why?
Well, the reasons are apparent – everybody needs a rest sometimes. The hotel resorts, seaside arrangements, and ski holidays are still the most popular choices in these situations. But – there is an increasing number of tourists that simply start disliking the idea of being herded into holiday resorts together with million other people, bars with loud music filled with thousand other drunken tourists, cheap plastic souvenirs that are supposed to be ‘ethnic hand-made’ and guided tours that last for a couple of hours and where they can’t really learn anything about the place they are visiting.
Yes, as crazy as it may seem, there are people like that – they want peace and quiet, and they actually want the place they visit to be authentic. And when i say authentic, i mean ‘intact’, ‘as is’ and ‘in it’s original condition’. So this is where the Serbian countryside kicks in – it actually is good to have some things unchanged, of course on condition that they were good in the first place.
The only website i found doing good job of covering accommodation options in the Serbian countryside is Selo.co.yu. They have over one hundred village houses available for booking online, and the prices go from 5EUR per night upwards. Unfortunately they don’t have an English version of the site yet, so i guess they are currently aiming only at domestic market.
Until they translate the site, this is what i can do to help – i can recommend the only accommodation i can personally guarantee is good, because it’s my grandparents house and I’ve spent a great deal of my childhood there so i know the place. Now i don’t have time to visit so frequently because i work during the week and weekends too, but every now and then i manage to grab a chance to go there and chill out for a while. See more info about the house on the separate page if you are interested in staying in this authentic countryside environment.
Most of the villages in Serbia are so authentic in fact, that we here take their quality almost for granted – nature, fresh air, landscapes, hospitality of the people, good food – these are in fact the things the advertising agencies see in a place and they advertise it until they practically destroy them. So maybe it’s better if we keep it a secret? At least it would be better for the lucky tourist that somehow manages to find the way to enjoy the benefits of Serbian villages before others do – and the benefits are numerous: hiking, enjoying the nature, fresh air, eating the food people like to call ‘organic’ (i admit i have no idea what this exactly is, people call it just ‘food’ in the countryside), getting some rest in a peaceful environment and last, but not least, to see how the local villagers really live.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Awsome entry! The rural aspect is so much better than the big city, in my opinion anyway. The back bone of every country! But then I’m a country boy at heart!
And thanks for the link to the housing! I will use this in the next few months.
With respect and…no offense at all intended………
John
Cool article V. Actually, thanks for the tip for your grandparents house, I’m considering to take my girlfriend there for a couple of days during summer. I hope your granddad can make some good rakija.
Now, Serbia hasn’t seaside and one of the aspect of creating a tourist perspective is the village tourism and this is an opporunity to makes us leaders in this segment. I don’t really know how it works, but it should be the responsibility of the state and the civil society to try to educate in a managerlike manner the villagers to develop their businesses, not losing in originality and to increase profits. We now have the chance to position ourselves in this segment, we just have to be able to grasp this opportunity and use it the best we can.
Nice article, Viktor. Very interesting.
Likewise, I enjoyed this. Sumadija the heart of Serbia – no, no I’m not joking, its where mine are from and its where the best rakija is made.
I envy you and Viktor, bganon, because my family’s village is Caglavica — I can’t really visit anymore, and my sons have been denied their family history and heritage inasmuch as they have not been able to visit and have no images in their minds of what their great-grandparents worked so hard to build. And they won’t see Gracanica, where I played with other kids on the grounds during special events at the monastery. I am glad that Sumadija has been brought to my attention and I will make a point of visiting there the next time I am in Serbia.
Ahh. Authentic Serbia in the small villages (selo right?). Best way is to keep it authentic is to keep the travel agencies out. These areas will change if all of a sudden all the tourists want to come there. They (the selo) will change for the worse.
Although I live in the USA, I have a home in Karan, Serbia which is a small village of about 800. I love it there. The real blood of Serbia-traditional and authentic. A very relaxing place with good people, good food, good slivovitz and very little stress.