Serbia is considered one of the richiest countries in mineral springs - three hundred have been counted thus far. Twenty among them are evaluated as mineral springs with the highest healing characteristics. Mineral waters in Serbia are very versatile and can be divided after their physical (cold, worm and hot) and chemical characteristics (acid, base, neutral, mineralised from a lesser to a greater degree etc.).There are alkaline spas such as Bukovička, Vrnjačka, Mataruška or Ribarska, radioactive – Niška, Sokobanjska, the ones with healing mud bath from their pools as Palić and Rusanda, salt water spa in Slankamen and iodine spa in Novi Sad. The number and abundance of their water sources mostly depend on geological composition of the ground. Some of these springs are appearing at the hights over five hundred meters which is very rare to find worldwide. Thermo-mineral water from Vranjska banja with its 92°C is the hotest in Europe. In Sijarinska banja there are two geysers, and one of them is jetting water up to 45 meters high!

Most of these mineral springs were used by the Romans who had built around them thermae and villas, the remains of which were found in Niška, Vrnjačka and Sokobanja Spa. In Medieval times springs were used sporadicaly by common people creating myths about their magical healing powers. The Turks rediscovered and made a great use of them. Turkish baths are still in use today in Novi Pazar, Sokobanja and Brestovačka banja. Soon after the country was liberated from the Turks, educated experts aknowledged natural resources of mineral and thermel waters in Serbia and became interested in their healing characteristics so that during the first half of the19th century several mineral spas emerged as health resorts. It didn’t take long for these spas to become places of leasure and recuperation for urban people who found their retreat there during summers and who started building houses and villas there. Just before the World World I, spas In Serbia were very fashionable places, with beautifuly designed parks and lakes which attracted visitors from Serbia as well as from abroad. At that time, the special law on spas and health resorts was passed which regulated their organization. Further delopment took place within resorts between the two wars, when modern hotels and boarding houses were built. That was the heyday of health resorts who were leading the way within the Serbian tourism. During the following decades large hotels were erected to accomodate thousands of visitors eager to find the cure for their diseases and also tourists who were just enjoying in their charm.

Today, spas in Serbia can offer modern accomodation, well maintained parks, sport grounds, beauty salons, saunas, fitness centers, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and conference halls. In the health resorts, there are specialised medical institutions with modern equipment for diagnostic purposes and treatments. Wooded hills and mountains are suitable for walks, picnics, picking medicinal herbs and forest fruits, rivers for fishing and rafting and a very active holiday in general. There are a lot of monuments from past times such as monasteries, fortresses or archeological excavation sites. The most famous among health resorts in Serbia are also very lively cultural centres during the season, with lots of manifestations – theatrical and cinematic events, folk performances, concerts...