I recently had a question from a reader about the above topic, and as I wrote quite a lengthy reply I thought I would post a version of the information here too. The reader is coming specifically for the EXIT festival in Novi Sad, via Belgrade, and was wondering about cycling along the Danube to Novi Sad.

The official Danube route was mapped out along the Serbian stretch of the Danube a couple of years ago, from the Hungarian border to at least as far as Belgrade, possibly further now, so Belgrade-Novi Sad is perfectly doable. You can just follow the signs from Belgrade (or buy the maps for that section) and you can catch the trail in Belgrade - probably on the way out towards Zemun, though don’t quote me on that. They are pretty recognisable blue signs.

However, you should bear in mind that in actual fact the trail does not go literally along the Danube all the way, in some places it is not practical, or simply not worth it, so the route is a compromise and sometimes goes on public roads. I personally dislike riding my bike on major roads in Serbia - drivers simply do not have an awareness of cyclists (or even of the basic rules of driving in a lot of cases), but I guess people do ride it all the time so it can’t be THAT dodgy and you still get to see some of the Danube that way. If you REALLY want to literally ride along the Danube, it is doable along most of the length (though along the north bank of the Danube - see below), but you should be aware it might be more of an “adventure”! Most of the Danube has an embankment running along it, and you can ride this most of the way, and it is very scenic actually (the pictures you see here were taken along that route). However, it is pretty rough in places, and in practice it would be better to skip some parts of it, especially where it peters out altogether and you get into marshland!

The official Danube route

The “official” Danube route crosses the Sava and I believe goes via Zemun and follows kind of what we call the “old road” to Novi Sad, actually a fairly major road, only leaving this for Belegeš, Surduk and Stari/Novi Slankamen (you should see these places on the map, or Google Earth) before rejoining the main road and crossing the Danube at Petrovaradin into Novi Sad. It also goes past Sremski Karlovci, a historic old town and one of the main reasons probably why the route went this way. Worth a stop if you go that way. This road, apart from the bit that clings to the Danube that I mentioned, is an alternative route between NS and BG and is used by a lot of cars wanting to avoid the motorway toll, with all the problems I mentioned. Also the road is in somewhat bumpy condition in places (especially around 10km after Inđija). There are also a couple of climbs - nothing major, but if you are carrying a lot of stuff you might feel them.

An unofficial Danube route

I will also describe the non-official option in case you want to try it - this is, like I said, a bit more of an adventure. I actually described this route before, but in reverse, so if you read this article you will get more of an idea, as well as a Google Earth file detailing things more precisely. This route involves following the signs for Pančevo, which will take you over the Danube straight away, but then NOT turning off for Pančevo, rather following signs for Zrenjanin, and going through Borča, past the turning for Padinska skela and heading for Titel. Now this route still involves a fair bit of major road, but it is in somewhat better condition and there are a fair few options for joining the Danube embankment. However, in practice I would still avoid doing this before the town of Titel because:

a) the trail is very bumpy and not always clear before this and

b) because you have to go through Titel anyway because that is the only place you can cross the Tisa.

Once you have crossed the Tisa you can head for the trail which runs along the Danube. There are topographical maps here (you can get all the other maps you need from this site too - remember though that they are very old and also that they are still technically classified military maps in Serbia! No, I don’t know what they are doing on that website!) and you can see that IMMEDIATELY, (I think right under) the Tisa bridge, you can turn off onto the embankment trail. And from this point on you can enjoy the ride! The trail is not paved mostly, but it is dry, hard-packed dirt (provided there hasn’t been too much rain!), is not too isolated most of the way, and is quite scenic and much more pleasant than riding on the main road. The one exception is where, if you look on a map, you have to cross the motorway. Here the road deviates from the Danube again (which is OK, because it is hard going along that section anyway, it’s basically marshland), goes over a bridge over the motorway, and eventually rejoins the Danube trail.

In particular, you can enjoy Koviljski rit, which is an area of protected marshland - hopefully there will be no invasion of poplar fluff as you can see on the right, when we rode the trail in May one year.

The last slightly tricky bit is leaving the embankment when you get close to Novi Sad - contrary to the old maps, you cannot go all the way along, there is an oil refinery there now! So you have to leave the trail and go through an industrial zone briefly, cross a small bridge over the Dunav-Tisa-Dunav canal and, hey presto, you are into Novi Sad.

Disclaimer

This latter way is longer, I think pushing 100km, but you get to see more of the Danube, and it has less dangerous road to ride on - the official Danube route people might not appreciate me suggesting this alternative route and I should emphasise it is at your own risk (hey, so is the official one, come to that), but I do think it is well worth considering.

If you think others might want to read this post, don’t be selfish, click above to AddThis to Digg, Del.icio.us or just about any other bookmarking service and share and share alike!

Popularity: 44% [?]

Posted on June 1st, 2009 by markowe
Filed under: MTB Serbia (All)