Iron Gate
The Danube forced between Serbian and Romanian cliffs for over a hundred kilometres, past a fishing village eight thousand years old and the face of a Dacian king cut into the rock.
- Arrival
- Belgrade Nikola Tesla · BEG
- To the gorge
- Donji Milanovac is 198 km from Belgrade by river
- Private jets
- Belgrade GA apron, then east by car
- Best time
- April to October
The city
A river in a stone corridor.
Taken as a whole, the Iron Gate is 134 kilometres of gorges, starting under the fortress at Golubac and ending at the dams below Orșova, with Serbia on the right bank and Romania on the left. In the Great Kazan the Danube is squeezed to about 150 metres and runs as deep as 53. When the Iron Gate I dam opened in 1972 the water rose and covered the old riverside towns; Donji Milanovac was rebuilt six kilometres downstream, and the Serbian side has been the Đerdap National Park since 1974.
Before the dam, belugas came up from the Black Sea to spawn, some of them 300 kilograms; now the biggest fish in the lake are wels catfish. Rome left a plaque to Trajan on the Serbian bank, and below the Great Kazan stood the bridge Apollodorus of Damascus built for him between 103 and 105. Summer days reach the high twenties.
- Lepenski Vir A Mesolithic settlement in the Gospođin Vir gorge, excavated in the 1960s, where fish-shaped stone sculptures came out of the ground.
- Golubac Fortress A medieval fort at the head of the first gorge, where the river closes to 230 metres.
- The Kazan gorges Nineteen kilometres of the Great and Small Kazan, with the head of Decebalus carved into the Romanian side between 1994 and 2004.
Arriving
Belgrade, then down the Danube.
The usual way in is Belgrade Nikola Tesla, some 140 kilometres west of the gorge as the crow flies. By river, Donji Milanovac is 198 kilometres downstream from the capital.
- Mykonos 1 h 25
- Milan 1 h 45
- Barcelona 2 h 30
- London 2 h 45
- Delhi 6 h 55 long-range jet
When to go
April to October.
Figures for Požarevac, upstream on the Danube plain. From May to September afternoons run from 23 to 28 degrees, June brings the most rain, and October is still mild at 18. Winter highs sit between three and six degrees.
- 3° J 45
- 6° F 44
- 12° M 44
- 18° A 55
- 23° M 73
- 25° J 90
- 27° J 63
- 28° A 53
- 24° S 52
- 18° O 46
- 10° N 56
- 5° D 58
Where to stay
At the downstream end of the gorge.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
Elsewhere in Serbia
More reasons to come.
Flying to Iron Gate?
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A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.