Mountains & Nature
Belgrade’s own mountain — the 205-metre TV tower, Meštrović’s Monument to the Unknown Hero and oak-wood trails 16 km from the centre.
Avala is the mountain every Belgrader grew up with: an 511-metre oak-wooded ridge 16 km south of the centre, crowned by the 205-metre Avala Tower and by one of the most powerful monuments in the Balkans — Ivan Meštrović’s Monument to the Unknown Hero, its eight stone caryatids carrying a sarcophagus above the plain. The mountain is Belgrade’s first excursion: marked trails climb from the village of Pinosava or the bus stop at the mountain hotel, passing the ruined medieval fortress of Žrnov that the Turks built to watch Belgrade, the Monument to the Soviet War Veterans whose 1964 plane crash killed the marshals of two armies, and the spring-fed picnic meadows. The tower’s terrace at 122 metres gives the definitive panorama — the whole city, the Sava–Danube confluence, Vojvodina’s flat line and, on clear days, the Carpathians of Romania.
MAP & LOCATION
THROUGH THE LENS
HISTORY IN PICTURES
Historical photographs of this place through its darkest and most defining years — shown for education and remembrance.
HISTORY & CULTURE
Avala’s Žrnov fortress guarded the Belgrade road from the Middle Ages; the Ottomans rebuilt it in the 15th century as a watching post against Hungary. After WWI the fortress was demolished to make way for the Unknown Hero monument — Meštrović’s 1934–38 masterpiece, modelled on the caryatid tradition and carved from Jablanica granite for the remains of a WWI soldier never identified. During WWII, Partisan units fought German rounds in these woods; in October 1964, the plane carrying Marshal Sreten Žujović and Soviet Marshal Sergei Biryuzov — en route to the 20th anniversary of Belgrade’s liberation — crashed into Avala’s shoulder, killing all aboard, and the Monument to the Soviet War Veterans marks the spot. The original Avala Tower, opened in 1965 as one of the tallest structures in the Balkans, was destroyed by NATO bombs on 29 April 1999 — deliberately, as a symbol — and rebuilt taller in 2006–2010 from public donations.
TOP THINGS TO DO
TOP ATTRACTIONS
FOOD & DRINK
The mountain hotel terrace — grill and coffee above the oaks
Picnic — the meadows are made for it; bring from the city
Pinosava village kaldrma kafanas on the drive back
HOTELS & STAYS
Stay in Belgrade — Avala is a half-day trip
ITINERARIES
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Bus 202 from Voždovac (Belgrade) to the Avala turn-off, ~40 min; by car 20 minutes from the centre via the Avalski drum. Parking at the mountain hotel and the monument.
Trail shoes for the marked paths, water in summer (the mountain is dry), a light jacket for the tower terrace.
The tower has a lift to the terrace; the Unknown Hero monument is reached by a stepped path; the lower picnic meadows are step-free.
WEATHER
Forecast data from Open-Meteo. Updated regularly.
TRAVEL GUIDES · STORIES
More here soon — the road is still being mapped.
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