Drvengrad - Mećavnik — Attraction in City of Užice

What an amazing artificial village made from wood ~ just like in the past people used to build!

Küstendorf ~ also known as Drvengrad and Mećavnik, is a traditional village that the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica built for his film Life Is a Miracle from 2003 to 2004.

It is located near the village of Mokra Gora in western Serbia ~ administrative area of Užice.

Please be advised if you are coming here with your car ~ not the tour bus: there are signs on your way and don’t miss sharp turn towards here. The road is narrow, it goes all the way up in the mountain! Once you arrived here, you will be able to park since there is designated parking place on the entrance of the village and you’ll pay an entrance fee which is really something symbolic, acceptable and cheap.

This beautiful artificial village has among many things:

~ library, named after Ivo Andrić: world known serbian writer who got Nobel Prize in Literature.

~ there is the Stanley Kubrick Theater, a sports hall, a restaurant, a cake shop, as well as a souvenir shops and finally: the Main house as accommodation for Kusturica family and friends with all the amenities you can think of!

The middle of the village has the Serbian Orthodox Church dedicated to Holy Sava. It’s very beautiful and worth seeing! ❤️

The streets in the village are named after very famous individuals that Kusturica holds in high esteem or finds them to be personally significant: Nikola Tesla, Miodrag Petrović Čkalja, Novak Djokovic, etc. and: Ivo Andrić, after whom the main street is named.

Nearby is also the ski resort ~ so visitors can enjoy some extra activities during winter!

There are many stands with local products like clothes, marmelades and homemade rakija. You can check it out, especially because there are many different types and salesmen will be happy to give you a sip in order to try them out. They are not expensive, but they are excellent quality and they make a great gift or souvenir!

The view from this little wooden village almost at the top of the mountain is extremely pleasant and you can enjoy it while sitting in one of the restaurants!~ enjoying your food and drinks!

We enjoyed our visit very much, stayed here for couple of hours wondering around, taking pictures, shopping and dining.

Prices are acceptable, staff / people are very kind and nice very helpful and most of them beside native serbian languages speak english and other languages.

I highly recommend visiting this unique artificial Wooden village ~ Drvengrad-Mećavnik!

Thank...

We (2 adults and a 1year old boy) were staying for 2 nights, we were assigned a room in the bottom floor to the biskonti restaurant.

The room itself is made from cheap wood, very small. Not the most clean and tidy,the bed seemed very old and it is definitely not a double bed as described by the hotel. Everytime you roll over it is becoming really noisy.

The first day was Okay, staff seemed nice and we were having a good time. (I do not recommend going there with children which don't walk yet since the place is basicly spread on a mountain and there are like 50 steps you need to climb for every little need.

Day 2, most of the day wasn't spent in the hotel. At night the nightmare began. At around midnight we started to hear sounds from the walls, apparently we had uninvited guests in the form of mice.

This was extremely unpleasant, they even grabbed some snack that the kid left on the floor. Our sleep was ruined, reception didn't answer the phone after we called about 7 times. I went upstairs(50 stairs in - 10c) just to find out again that no living soul to provide us some help.

Next morning we decided to go grab our breakfast quickly and leave ASAP, breakfast this morning was just disaster. The night before the hotel was packed since it was a national holiday. Next day, almost no guests and the kitchen stuff decided its a good idea to throw us all the leftovers from the previous day. I was working as a professional chef for 7 years so I know to recognise this kind of stuff. On top of that we found hairs inside the "kajmak".

We went to the reception and were given about 50% off the second day. Honestly we had one of the worst experiences ever, truly disappointed.

Almost 2 weeks have passed since we were there and still waiting for the manager to call us as promised by...

What an absolutely charming place, full Of art and history. Gorgeous cabins and chalets to stay in. I would say one of Serbia’s must see places but it’s full of tour groups and when I went about to host a big convention . I loved my attic on Nicola Tesla street with red and white checked sheets and full bathroom. No plug for the bath and terrible bathroom lighting. Could never get the Tv to work but just a gorgeous cosy room. If you can just buy board only as the food was the worst I’ve had in Serbia, it was buffet, sloppy sauces, dry chicken breast, there was some stuffed mince that was ok but all cold by the time you got to table. I sat there through my appetizer and and main meal and not one of of the young male waiters bothered to ask me if I wanted a drink not even water, not even approached my table. Went upstairs to the cafe and ordered the local brandy, had to signal get a second one and the bill as the staff were too busy talking to themselves. Breakfast no better. Managed to get in the pool but no sauna or anything else operating by 9am when it was supposed to open. So maybe just visit and enjoy the art. Need to Mention the reception staff were fabulous, terribly busy but warm and welcoming as much as their busy schedule would allow. Also the cats, lots of cuddles from them. Also Pastry cafe food and people...