The hook
A narrow-gauge heritage railway that loops through the mountains in a figure eight to climb a steep grade, paired with a hilltop wooden village a film director built for a movie and then kept.
01Why it's worth it
In the hills of southwestern Serbia, near the Bosnian border, the old narrow-gauge line to Sarajevo had to climb a mountainside too steep for a normal railway, so engineers threaded it into a figure-eight loop, crossing over itself through tunnels and bridges to gain height slowly. A restored section, the Šargan Eight, now runs as a scenic heritage train through that engineering knot for the pleasure of the ride. Nearby sits Drvengrad, or Küstendorf, a village of traditional timber houses the film director Emir Kusturica built for a movie and then turned into a permanent quirky retreat, all wooden lanes and film-world in-jokes. Together with the Zlatibor highlands around them, they make an offbeat mountain half-day that few foreign visitors reach.
02How to experience it
Ride the Šargan Eight heritage train for the loop-the-loop climb, book ahead in summer, and wander Kusturica's wooden Drvengrad nearby. Combine it with the rolling Zlatibor region for a low-key mountain day.