Sremski Karlovci is a town of barely nine thousand people that punches far above its size. After the Great Migration of 1690 it became the seat of the Serbian Orthodox metropolitans in the Habsburg Monarchy, and for two hundred years it was where Serbian schools, printing, theology and politics were shaped. The result is a compact baroque and neoclassical centre that you can walk in an hour and remember for years.
It is also a wine town. Vineyards run down from Fruška Gora to the back gardens, and almost every family cellar pours bermet, a dark, aromatic dessert wine steeped with some twenty herbs and spices whose recipes are kept in the family. Locals like to say it was on the wine list of the Titanic and at the Viennese court. Pair it with a slice of kuglof, the ring cake the town celebrates with its own festival.
Top things to do: Sremski Karlovci
Walk the main square
Trg Branka Radičevića gathers nearly everything: the red-marble Four Lions fountain of 1799 (legend says whoever drinks from it returns to Karlovci to marry), the twin-towered Cathedral of St Nicholas from 1762 with an iconostasis by Teodor Kračun and Jakov Orfelin, the Catholic Holy Trinity church, and the Patriarchate Court, the grand residence completed in 1895 that houses a treasury of church art.
See the Gymnasium and the Seminary
The Karlovci Gymnasium, founded in 1791, is the oldest Serbian grammar school; its present building of 1891 mixes Serbian-Byzantine and Secession details and holds a celebrated library. Next door stands the Orthodox Seminary, founded in 1794. Interiors open on request or on guided visits — ask at the tourist office on the square.
Climb to the Chapel of Peace
On a hill ten minutes above the centre, the round Chapel of Peace (1817) marks the spot where the Treaty of Karlowitz was negotiated in 1699 between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League. Tradition holds that a round table was used so that no delegation sat at the head. The building has four doors, one for each party; the chapel is often locked, but the view over town and Danube is free.
Taste bermet in a family cellar
Cellars such as Živanović (which also runs the charming Museum of Beekeeping), Kiš, Dulka and Bajilo welcome visitors for tastings, usually a flight of Graševina, Riesling or Portugieser followed by red and white bermet. Weekends are busy, so call ahead or let a guided tour arrange it. Buy a bottle: bermet is hard to find outside the region.
Continue to Stražilovo
Four kilometres up the valley is Stražilovo, the wooded hill with the tomb of the poet Branko Radičević and the start of several marked trails into the national park.
How to get to Sremski Karlovci
- From Novi Sad: about 12 km. City buses 61 and 62 run from the centre via Petrovaradin several times an hour and take 20–30 minutes; a taxi is inexpensive. Check current timetables with the city transport company (JGSP).
- From Belgrade: roughly 70 km, about an hour by car via the A1 motorway. Regional trains on the Belgrade–Novi Sad line stop at Sremski Karlovci, but the fast Soko services do not — check the timetable on srbvoz.rs.
- On a tour: almost every day trip from Belgrade stops here for a walk and a tasting, usually combined with Petrovaradin and Novi Sad.
Insider tips
- Come on a weekday morning if you can: Sunday lunchtime brings coaches from Belgrade and Novi Sad.
- The grape-harvest festival (Karlovačka berba grožđa, also called Grožđebal) fills the town in late September or early October — wonderful atmosphere, but book accommodation early.
- Many cellars take cash only; there are ATMs on the main square.
- For lunch, the fish restaurants on the Danube bank a short walk from the centre serve fiš paprikaš, the paprika-red river-fish stew of Vojvodina.
- The tourist office on the square sells combined tickets and can phone ahead to cellars and museums.
Best tours & tickets: Sremski Karlovci
These top-rated experiences are the easiest way to see Sremski Karlovci:
Day trip from €65 From Belgrade: Novi Sad & Sremski Karlovci Full-Day Tour
The most-booked trip in the region by a wide margin, with well over a thousand reviews. A comfortable day north from Belgrade: Sremski Karlovci and its bermet, the ramparts of Petrovaradin and free time in Novi Sad, with a private option if you prefer.
- Baroque Sremski Karlovci with a guide
- Bermet wine tasting in a family cellar
- Petrovaradin Fortress and Novi Sad’s old centre
Half-day tour from €69 From Novi Sad: Sremski Karlovci and Krušedol Monastery Tour
Already staying in Novi Sad? This compact private tour covers the two essentials on the eastern side of the mountain — Karlovci and Krušedol — in a morning or afternoon, with pickup from your accommodation.
- St Nicholas Cathedral and the Four Lions fountain
- Bermet tasting in Sremski Karlovci
- Krušedol Monastery in the eastern hills
Small-group day trip from €100 Full-Day Wine & Honey Tour: Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci
A small-group day that leans into flavour: Karlovci’s beekeeping tradition and its cellars come first, with honey and wine tastings, then Petrovaradin and Novi Sad. A good pick if lime-blossom honey and bermet are your idea of sightseeing.
- Wine and honey tasting in Sremski Karlovci
- Stories and legends of the old town
- Novi Sad and Petrovaradin
Small-group day trip from €59 Novi Sad & Sremski Karlovci Day Tour with Wine Tasting
A tighter six-hour version of the classic loop at the lowest price of the day trips listed here, in a small group. You see the same headline sights and are back in Belgrade by mid-afternoon.
- Streets and squares of Novi Sad
- Petrovaradin Fortress
- Bermet tasting in Sremski Karlovci
