Srbija Voz trains

Srbija Voz, also branded Srbijavoz, is the state-owned national passenger rail operator of Serbia. It was created in 2015 when the former Serbian Railways was split into separate passenger, freight and infrastructure companies, and it now runs essentially all domestic and international passenger trains in the country from its Belgrade headquarters.

The network is smaller and more concentrated than in most other Interrail and Eurail countries, so it pays to set expectations before you plan a Serbia leg of a trip. Domestically, the standout service is SOKO, a high-speed connection from Belgrade to Novi Sad and on to Subotica, run with modern Stadler KISS trains reaching up to 200 km/h. It covers Belgrade to Novi Sad in around 30 minutes and continues to Subotica in roughly 1 hour 40 minutes from Belgrade, making it one of the fastest domestic connections in the Balkans. Slower Regio services cover other domestic routes out of Belgrade, including Niš, Kraljevo, Užice, Zrenjanin and Sombor, and these regional trains generally do not require a reservation.

Internationally, treat Srbija Voz as limited rather than absent. At present the only operating international lines are Belgrade to Bar in Montenegro, run as a scenic day and night service, and a regional connection from Subotica to Szeged in Hungary. Direct trains from Belgrade to Budapest, Niš to Sofia, Niš to Skopje and onward to Thessaloniki, and Belgrade to Zagreb are currently suspended due to infrastructure works. If your route needs Budapest, the workaround is Belgrade to Subotica, then Subotica to Szeged, then on to Budapest, with reservations required on the Serbian legs. Check the current line status before you build an itinerary around any of these connections, since resumption dates depend on ongoing works.

The mistake most travellers make with Srbija Voz is assuming a fast, modern-looking domestic train works like a walk-on regional service. It does not. SOKO trains require a mandatory seat reservation, priced at around RSD 120, and this catches out travellers who expect a metro-style hop-on service between Belgrade and Novi Sad. The international day and night train to Bar also carries a mandatory reservation, priced at around RSD 350, and on the night train specifically, reservations must be picked up in person within 24 hours of booking at a larger station such as Beograd Centar or Novi Sad, so book and collect with that window in mind rather than leaving it until the day of travel.

Interrail and Eurail passes are accepted across the Srbija Voz network, including SOKO and the Belgrade to Bar service, but the pass only covers the base fare. You still need to add the mandatory seat reservation on every service that requires one, which in practice means almost every useful long-distance or high-speed train in Serbia.