Blighted by years of war, Serbia is beginning to re-emerge as a tourist destination and is fast becoming one of Europe's hottest 'undiscovered' spots.

Visitors can explore Belgrade's museums and galleries, enjoy world-class opera and theater productions or check out the city's burgeoning club scene. Or they may head to elegant Novi Sad, stretching along the banks of the Danube, and known as the 'Serbian Athens'. The city is host to Exit, southeast Europe's largest music festival.

Beyond the cities, Serbia encompasses vineyards, majestic gorges and vast national parks, and is home to 80 per cent of all bird species found in Europe.

Geography
Serbia borders Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, the Kosovo region and Albania to the south, Montenegro to the southwest, Bosnia & Herzegovina to the west and Croatia to the northwest. The province of Kosovo, now administered by the UN, is in the south, and shares borders with Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of) and Albania. Serbia is dominated by the flat, fertile farmland of the Danube and Tisza valleys. The scenery varies from rich Alpine valleys, vast fertile plains and rolling green hills to bare, rocky gorges as much as 1140m (3800ft) deep, thick forests and gaunt limestone mountain regions. Belgrade, the capital, lies on the Danube.