Day trips from Niš
An imperial palace on the UNESCO list, two gorges and two spa towns — and only two of the five trips need a car.
- Felix Romuliana
- About 110 km, around two hours' drive
- The Sićevo gorge
- Starts 14 km east
- Niška Banja
- 9 km
Two trips from Niš — the Sićevo gorge, and Niška Banja with the Jelašnica gorge — go by city and suburban bus, and the ride is free; a direct coach runs to Sokobanja. You need a car only for Felix Romuliana near Zaječar and Đavolja Varoš near Kuršumlija, and both take a full day.
Felix Romuliana — the important one
The emperor Galerius raised this palace, UNESCO-listed since 2007, at the end of the third and start of the fourth century and named it after his mother Romula; the outer wall has around twenty towers, and on Magura hill, a kilometre east, stand the mausoleums of Galerius and Romula. From April to November it is open 8 am to 8 pm, in winter until 4 pm, with last entry an hour before closing — so in winter you leave Niš in the morning. An introductory guided tour starts at the visitor centre every 45 minutes.
The Sićevo gorge — the nearest
It begins at Prosek, where the Nišava enters the limestone between the Svrljig mountains and Suva planina. A railway and a road with thirteen tunnels run through it; on Kusača hill above Sićevo stands the monastery of the Holy Mother of God, and at the far end of the gorge the monastery of St Petka Iverica. Half a day.
Two spa towns
Niška Banja is at the end of city bus line 1, with a main spring at about 38 °C, and three kilometres further is the Jelašnica gorge, where bolted sport-climbing routes line the rock — spa and gorge together fill an afternoon. Sokobanja is bigger and further, with its own page on this site; of these five it is the only full-day trip that needs no car.
How and how long
Without a car — both gorges, both spa towns
Before you set off
- Gamzigrad without a car. Coaches go as far as Zaječar, and the site is another eleven kilometres on — the day turns into changes and waiting.
- Felix Romuliana and Đavolja Varoš on the same day. Not sensibly: Gamzigrad is north-east of Niš, Đavolja Varoš south-west, and each is about two hours' drive.
Đavolja Varoš — Devil's Town — lies south-west, near Kuršumlija, on the road through Prokuplje; like Gamzigrad it takes a full day and a car. What is there and how long the trail takes — on its own page:
Stara Planina
Stara Planina doesn't fit into a day from Niš — the drive there runs straight through Niš, on towards Pirot and the Bulgarian border, so it needs a plan of its own, two or three days, not an add-on to these five.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which trip if I am in Niš on a Monday?
Felix Romuliana: it opens on Mondays, while the Skull Tower, Mediana and the Crveni Krst camp are closed. The gorges and spas do not depend on the day.
Ready for Niš?
Where to next
Where to stay in Niš
→In Niš the base isn't chosen by neighbourhood but by which day it covers — the centre for the city day, near…
Sokobanja · 36 km
→The spa town where Prince Miloš officially sent his first patient in 1837
How well does Niš suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Front row for the next trip
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