Yesterday I think was a very important milestone for cycling in Serbia. It saw the opening of the first section of the Danube Cycle Route/Track/Donauradweg in Serbia. In the last month or two, 360 signposts have been erected, from the Hungarian border at Bački breg along a stretch of almost 400 km down to Novi Banovci, near Belgrade. A pleasantly modest ceremony in Novi Sad, held at waypoint number 960, in front of the Customs barge on Novi Sad’s Quay, declared this first stretch of the Serbian Danube Cycle Track… open! (click for full-size picture).

The project is the result of cooperation between the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit - German Association for Technical Cooperation) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and Development. Its aim is to connect Serbia with the rest of the Danube Cycle Route and in the near future, the plan is to extend the route all the way down through the Djerdap National Park to near the Romanian border and eventually into Bulgaria.

Why is this so exciting? Well, as I keep reiterating on this blog (see my blurb about the EXIT Festival, too), Serbia has just been way off the map for too long. Simply put, no-one has been coming to Serbia since the early 90’s - when I hear anyone speaking English around Novi Sad, I still sometimes turn round, and the number of people coming to Serbia as tourists is still very, very small. So to see Serbia actually investing in its tourist infrastructure (with the help of the Germans) and in cycling at that, is very encouraging. Serbia, relatively speaking, has very few cycling enthusiasts (I think all 20 of us were at the opening ceremony!) and connecting the Serbian stretch of the Danube with the existing Donauweg infrastructure is a master stroke! I hope and expect to see a massive increase in the number of cyclists coming through Serbia in the coming year or two.

Some more information about the Serbian section of the Danube Cycle Track/Route: this poster-presentation, shown off at the opening ceremony, gives you more of an idea (I wish they’d asked me to correct the English though..!):

According to this, upon entry to Serbia (no visa required), you will be greeted by a big sign like the one at the top of this page. This is a revolution for Serbia, for a start - I mean, useful, friendly information for visitors at the border! Things have changed… You are then guided along the Danube by the above-described signposts. The nice thing is that there are actually three routes. All three seem to cross the Danube at least once, in Novi Sad, though there might be room for debate about which side of the Danube the route should have been on. The Novi Sad-Belgrade stretch is along a not-that-nice old road which is quite a way from the Danube and suffers from bad traffic conditions. It might be possible to ride along the northern side (I have done so at least up to Titel and it is very nice) and only cross the Danube once you get to Belgrade.

In any case, the first route is for real enthusiasts and takes you as close as possible along the Danube, including stretches where there is no asphalt. I haven’t travelled the whole length, but as far as I know, much of the Danube trail is without asphalt and so this is definitely for those with a tougher constitution who don’t mind it being bumpy. And you would have to be riding an MTB or sturdy touring bike, I don’t think this is for more sensitive machines, although I also suspect that they probably haven’t kept to the riverside trails ALL the way - some sections are very rough.

The second route (”alternative route”) is an “easier” route, which only comprises asphalt roads and does not always take you alongside the river. In fact you probably won’t see it a lot of the time! I question whether this is a better option as you might miss some very beautiful stretches of the Danube, and also the driving on Serbian roads leaves much to be desired. There is a very real danger from cars - drivers are simply not educated to deal with bikes. Personally I would much rather ride along the riverside trails…

The third route gives you the option to stop off at various sights and sites of interest along the way, which I am sure you will want to do, if you want to actually see anything instead of just riding, riding, riding! For example, if you are passing through Novi Sad, it would be a shame not to climb up onto the Fruska gora and traverse a length of Novi Sad’s beautiful “mountain”, or stop off in historic Sremski Karlovci.

The signposts should keep you on the right track, and you can always buy the printed maps - there are some 4 or 5 maps to cover the whole of Serbia. No GPS maps are available as yet - we were told, strangely, that the Garmin people are not currently involved in this project.

Did I mention I thought all this was quite exciting? Well, I am a mountain-biker at heart, though I do some Danube-side rides occasionally, but I still think this is a huge boost to Serbian tourism, especially cycle tourism, and I can’t wait to see the results!

Welcome to the Serbian Danube Cycle Track!

P.S. The official site is www.danube-info.org, but at time of “press” there didn’t seem to be any fresh info there.

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Posted on July 2nd, 2007 by markowe
Filed under: Biking - general, MTB Serbia (All)