Rakovac and around
What is new in the village and around it, and what is new on this site.
Telegram channels write that residents of the exempt municipalities are being charged and must apply for the exemption. Officially no application is needed, and we found no published case of a resident being charged; our own car from Rakovac drove through twice and has no charges. Nothing is sent by post: charges can only be seen on the portal by number plate.
From 5 November 2026 cameras record cars in Fruška Gora National Park. People whose permanent address is in Beočin, Novi Sad or 18 other municipalities do not pay and do not need to register. For everyone else a pass through the park costs 100 dinars for up to an hour.
The Fruška Gora National Park Information Centre on Iriški Venac is closed for reconstruction and fenced off. You cannot pay the park fee or get advice there; for now the fee can only be paid online.
From Thursday 5 November 2026 Fruška Gora National Park records and charges the fee for cars and motorcycles electronically. For now you can pay online only: the Information Centre on Iriški Venac is closed for reconstruction. Update, 5 November: residents of 20 nearby municipalities, Beočin among them, do not pay.
The best views around Rakovac on Fruška Gora: the lookout with the swing above Novi Rakovac, the Kesten viewpoint and the Brankovac meadows on the ridge, and how to get there.
The same view in every season: from Belegirska Street in Novi Rakovac across the valley to the hills towards Stari Rakovac, with sheep in spring, storms in summer and autumn colours.
What Spitzer Castle in Beočin may have looked like around 1900: a 3D model you can turn on every side, and what is known about its original appearance.
Spitzer Castle in Beočin in autumn 2026: facades with iron dragons and the turul, the double-height hall with its gallery, stained-glass windows, painted pillars, patterned floors and the cast-iron gazebo in the park.
A playground made entirely of wood at the Zmajevac picnic area above Rakovac: climbing logs and a climbing wall, swings, a wooden train, learning boards about animal tracks, leaves and the alphabet, and outdoor workout bars.
The wooden Eko park Zmajevac playground on the Fruška Gora ridge above Rakovac: climbing logs, swings, a wooden train, learning boards and outdoor workout bars.
The Secession castle of the Spitzer family, cement-works owners, built 1892–1898 in Beočin: its history, decline and the films shot there, from Kelly’s Heroes to Kusturica’s Black Cat, White Cat.
Badnjak at Rakovac Monastery, grape days in Banoštor and Irig, Vidovdan at Vrdnik, the Ruma fair, Čerevićvil, Grožđebal and the Fruška Gora Marathon: the yearly calendar of Rakovac and the villages on both sides of the mountain.
Plants and mushrooms of Fruška Gora around Rakovac: linden and oak forests, steppe flowers and orchids, edible mushrooms and the deadly poisonous ones to know first.
Wild animals of Fruška Gora around Rakovac: roe deer, wild boar, mouflon, European bison, jackals, dormice, bats, fire salamanders and the venomous adder.
Birdwatching on Fruška Gora around Rakovac: more than 200 species, from eagles and black storks to woodpeckers, owls and buntings. When and where to watch birds.
Rakovac Monastery: Liturgy on weekdays and Saturdays at 7:00, Sundays and feast days at 8:00, Vespers at 16:00. Open 7–19:30 in summer, 7–17 in winter.
Follow @rakovac_rs: the best photos of Rakovac and its surroundings, local news and new pages of the site, in Serbian, Russian and English.
A folded Austro-Hungarian map sheet from 1877 in the author’s collection, scanned and put on the site: Rakovac, its monastery and Eugene’s road along the ridge, almost 150 years ago.
Photo album by Anna Romashkina and Marina Kulakovskaja: the turquoise lake in the flooded quarry above Stari Ledinci, from its high edge and from the shore.
A turquoise lake in an old marl quarry on the south side of Fruška Gora: the most popular swimming lake of the area, with gently sloping places for small children.
A shallow beach at Lake Bešenovo, the children’s pools at Fruške Terme, and which lake is not for children.
The riverbed at the landing has been dug out to remove the sandbank. Since Friday 9 October the ferry has been taking cars and passengers across the Danube again; the first morning crossing leaves Beočin at 7:00.
The women’s association of Rakovac took home-made pies, embroidery and old dolls to the studio of Radio-Television of Vojvodina. The episode will be broadcast in November.
The “Gibraltar on the Danube”: an 18th-century Habsburg fortress on a rock above the river opposite Novi Sad, with a clock tower whose hands are swapped, 16 km of underground galleries and wide views over the city.
Petrovaradin Fortress on its rock above the Danube: views from the walls over Novi Sad and the Lower Town, the famous clock tower, and the fortress under storm clouds seen from across the river.
Novi Sad, the city across the Danube from Rakovac, through the lens of our neighbour Peter Perlin: Žeželj Bridge in fog, the city centre on a festive evening and spring blossom on the Danube quay.
The car ferry across the Danube between Beočin and Futog: from Beočin every hour on the hour, from Futog at half past, 10–15 minutes across, every day except 1 January and Orthodox Christmas. Call before you go: it does not always run.
A meadow on the hill above Novi Rakovac with a swing on an old tree and one of the widest views in the area: Novi Sad, the Danube and the plain beyond.
Five things to find on the walks around the monastery. Tick them off on the phone, or print the page and draw what you found.
Views from the hills, the monastery in every season, snow in the gardens and the monuments around the village: photos of Rakovac today, to browse or to watch as a full-screen slideshow.
Rakovac in photos from every decade, shared by the people of the village and its friends: sorted by year, with the photographer and the person who sent each picture.
The shield R, two typefaces and five colours of rakovac.rs. Businesses and residents of Rakovac may use them free of charge on signs, menus, price lists, labels, packaging and websites, so that what is made in the village looks like it belongs together.
Rakovac on historical maps: the 1877 sheet “Neusatz und Peterwardein” from the author’s collection, the detailed Austro-Hungarian special map of 1915, a general map from about 1910 and the topographic maps of the Yugoslav People’s Army from the 1970s and 1980s, with more maps from archives and private collections to come.
The 18-metre keep of a medieval fortress first recorded in 1315, on a hill above Vrdnik spa. You can climb it by a steel staircase and look out over Srem.
Rakovac
