Hello, and thanks for this wonderful and helpful site!

In late August, I will be on a grand voyage from Ljubljana to Istanbul. As part of this trip, I will be traveling between Sarajevo and Sofia, Bulgaria. Unfortunately, I do not have time to go up to Belgrade or Novi Sad.  Because of time constraints, I only have one day to spend in Serbia! Can anyone suggest a great place to stop and rest in Southern Serbia, between Sarajevo and Sofia? Any great national parks, villages, or cities? Is Nis the best place to stop?

Note that I will be traveling by bus and train, so anywhere you suggest must be reachable by bus or train from Sarajevo and Sofia.

Thank you so much for your help! I am sure that I will love Serbia and I'm looking forward to coming back with more time to give the country the attention it deserves!

Cheers,

Gabriel

There are quite a few interesting places on that stretch of road, but unfortunately most of them aren't all that easy to get to, which (I believe) rules them out of your single-day hit-and-run plan. So I guess you should go for Nish - it has a really nice old fortress well worth seeing, as well as an eerie "skull-tower", a rather unique structure with human skulls embedded into walls (just follow the link below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Tower

Thanks, that's very helpful! The Skull Tower sounds quite fascinating, although the history behind it is so tragic.  I do hope I get a chance, eventually, to explore some of those harder to reach gems in Southern Serbia.

Do you happen to know how often there are buses from East Sarajevo to Nish, and how long the bus ride would take?

Also, do you know how much time it would take to travel from Nish to Sofia, by train or bus?

I apologize for all the questions, but your help is hugely appreciated!  This site has already saved me many worries!

Thanks,

Gabriel

PS: Are you a Vonnegut fan, Bokonon? Perhaps we are in the same karas!

  Unfortunately, I can only answer one of your questions. Here is the info from the Serbian Railways web site:

  Train no. 491 leaves Nish at 13:10 arriving to Sofia at 17:40

>Are you a Vonnegut fan

  Interestingly, this book doesn't seem to be widely known... you're the third person I've ever met to have read it... hat off