Beli Izvorac waterfall, Valja Prerast and Rajko's Cave

• Hiking
• Eastern Serbia
• One-day
• Summer 2024
• Sightseeing
• Family friendly

Nature has given this part of Serbia great wealth in the form of various and very rare phenomena of extraordinary beauty.

A hiking trail where you will admire attractions such as the Beli Izvorac waterfall with cascades several hundred meters long and cave canals. Then the natural stone phenomenon Šuplja Stena (Hollow Rock). which is the tallest stone arch in Serbia and which that sculpted the river Valja Prerast.

Finally, we will visit Rajko's cave, which is one of the most beautiful in Serbia due to the richness of cave jewelry. Under its vaults we meet the whole world of different shapes.

Additional notes:

• Equipment for the Beli Izvorac tour: Deep hiking boots with a vibram sole or deep sports shoes with stronger sole, backpack, layered wardrobe, adapted to weather conditions, we recommend trekking poles, bring enough water and some food (snacks, sandwiches, fruit).
• Information about a hiking trail:
  • Length: 7 km
  • Total ascend/descend: about 350 m
  • Category: easy, hiking on forest paths, dirt and partly stone road
  • Duration: around 4h-5h with breaks
• For the realization of the tour, a minimum of 19 registered passengers is required.
• Price is for members of "Explore Serbia". You can find membership information here. For those who do not have a membership card, the price is 4700 dinars.
• Own transportation: in case you come by your own transport, the price of the tour is 2600 dinars (with Explore Serbia membership cards) or 3600 dinars (for those who do not have a membership card).
• Transportation from Novi Sad: the surcharge is 1200 dinars. Another option is to take the train to the Novi Beograd railway station, where you can wait for our transport. You can see the timetable here.
• Accident insurance: in order for this type of insurance to be active, you need to send us your personal number (JMBG) when registering.
• In case of insufficient number of registered passengers or unfavorable weather conditions, the deadline for notification of postponement or cancellation of the tour is 2 days before departure.

The attractions you will see

Rajko's Cave

In terms of the wealth of cave jewelry, Rajkova cave is one of the most beautiful in Serbia (the jewelry is made of the highest quality white crystalline calcite). It is located 2 km from Majdanpek, at the source of the Mali Pek river.

Under its vaults, we meet a whole world of different shapes from the Hedgehog's Hall, through the Winter Fairy Tale, the Crystal Forest, to the Trembling Lake. What sets it apart from other caves is the very noisy stream that flows through it - the Rajko River. It consists of two separate units: Ponorska and Izvorska pečina, and each unit has two horizontal ones - dry and horizontal. The cave was first explored by our greatest geographer Jovan Cvijić in 1894, and the research was continued only in the seventies of the twentieth century. Rajko's cave was opened to tourists in 1975. With a length of 2,380 m of channels explored so far, it is the longest cave in Serbia. By connecting the river and dry canals, a circular path with a length of 1,410 m was obtained, and for now, tourists visit parts of the river and dry horizons. The temperature in the cave is +8°C, the relative humidity is close to 100%.

According to the legend, the cave was named after the hajduk Rajko, who intoxicated passengers and Turkish caravans in these parts, robbed them, and hid the stolen treasure in the cave. It is assumed that he lived in the 19th century. Following the tradition, it was visited by numerous hunters for buried treasure.

Natural stone bridge Šuplja stena (Hollow Rock) over the river Valja Prerast

The hollow rock is a magnificent stone bridge that the river Valja Prerast sculpted with its sinking. The river Valja Prerast cut a passage through limestones about 130-150 million years old, creating the highest overgrowth, ie a natural stone bridge in Serbia. The natural stone bridge, under the protection of the state, is a natural monument of exceptional importance. With its height of 45 meters and width at the bottom of about 10 meters, it dominates the environment in its beauty. The protected stone bridge is located about 12 km from Majdanpek. From the regional road, the hiking trail is 1300m long. The protected area of the overgrowth includes the beautiful mountain river Valja Prerast, which passes under it. Together they form an attractive and very important tourist ambient space.

In the immediate vicinity of the Hollow Rock, from the darkness of the cave, a small river called Beli Izvorac stands out, which, flowing over the bigren cascades, creates waterfalls of extraordinary beauty.

Beli Izvorac Waterfall

Beli Izvorac is one of the rare cascading waterfalls in Serbia. The height of the highest waterfall is 16 meters, the length of the cascades is several hundred meters (below the highest waterfall there is a cave channel 13 meters long and 4 meters wide). Downstream from the waterfall, there are partitions of limestone (small lakes) with a diameter of up to 10 meters and a depth of about 2 meters. By precipitating limestone in the cave, saliva and stalactites were formed from pure white rock.

In the immediate vicinity of the waterfall is the spring of Beli izvorac and two karst caves (Kozija and Mala pećina). In the Goat Cave, the remains of Neanderthals were found, as well as various artifacts. At the same time, the Small Cave is one of the oldest sites of material culture of homo sapiens in Southeast Europe.

The natural monument Beli izvorac is important because of its exceptionality and preservation as a geomorphological object of the surface karst relief. Based on geomorphological values, this locality, is included in the Inventory of geological heritage objects of Serbia.

Photos used:

• Author of the cover photo Beli Izvorac, Spomenik prirode, Majdanpek: Dragoslav Ilic, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Authors of photos in the gallery: Prerast Valja u zalasku sunca – Gojko Gavrilo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rajko's Cave – Sawa, CC BY-SA 3.0

The organizer of the tour is the travel agency Explore Balkans doo. With this program is valid Rulebook on conducting tours by Explore Balkans doo.

According to Article 79 of the Law on Tourism, protection is not provided for one-day tours in terms of travel guarantees.