Prizren

The heart of the old town is a small, cobbled, gently sloping square named after the stone fountain in its middle. Ottoman-era tradition holds that whoever drinks from it will come back to Prizren. Around it are cafés with terraces under plane trees, ice-cream shops, filigree jewellers and old shopfronts, and from here lanes fan out to the mosques, the river and the hill. It is also where the town gathers on summer evenings for the slow, sociable promenade known locally as the xhiro, when it seems everyone in Prizren is out walking.

TipPrizren is known for silver filigree. The workshops around the square still make it by hand; ask to see the work in progress before you buy.

The tall, slender minaret beside the river belongs to the town's signature building, built around 1615 for Sofu Sinan Pasha with stone reputedly taken from the medieval Monastery of the Holy Archangels upstream. Inside, a single great dome sits over a prayer hall painted with floral and geometric decoration, much of it brought back to life during a major restoration in the 2010s. It is an active mosque and dominates almost every view of the old town, especially when lit at night.

TipVisitors are welcome outside prayer times. Cover shoulders and knees, remove your shoes, and women should bring a scarf.

The single high arch across the Lumbardhi river is the town's emblem. An Ottoman bridge stood here for centuries before floods brought it down in 1979; it was rebuilt soon afterwards in the old style, and today it is the obvious place to stand and look along the river, with the mosque on one side and the fortress hill rising behind. The riverbanks on either side have been made into walkways lined with restaurants and cafés, and in summer children paddle in the shallows below.

TipCome at dusk for the classic photograph of the bridge and the lit minaret together.

On the south bank, a short walk west of the bridge, a group of traditional buildings commemorates the League of Prizren, the assembly of Albanian leaders that met here in 1878 to resist the redrawing of borders after the Russo-Turkish war. For Albanians it marks the beginning of the national movement, and the complex is something of a pilgrimage site. The buildings were destroyed during the 1999 conflict and have since been reconstructed; inside are displays on the League and its leaders, and the ethnographic rooms give a sense of how a prosperous Prizren household once lived.

TipLabels are mainly in Albanian. Opening hours vary, so ask at your guesthouse or the tourist office before walking over.

This red-brick Serbian Orthodox church, rebuilt in the early fourteenth century by King Milutin on the site of an earlier cathedral, is one of the four buildings that make up UNESCO's Medieval Monuments in Kosovo site, along with the monasteries at Dečani, Peć and Gračanica. Its frescoes are among the finest of the Byzantine revival of the period, though they bear the scars of history: they were once plastered over when the building served as a mosque, and the church was set alight during riots in 2004. Since 2006 the UNESCO site has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger, mainly because of concerns over security and conservation.

TipThe church is fenced and usually locked. You can see the exterior and its striking brick-and-stone patterning from the street; to see the frescoes, ask locally or through the Orthodox diocese about access, and do not count on it.

The steep path up from the old town, past old houses and the Church of the Holy Saviour, takes about twenty minutes and ends at the fortress the locals simply call the Kalaja. There has been a stronghold here since at least Byzantine times; the medieval Serbian rulers used it as a seat, and the Ottomans rebuilt and extended it. Excavation and restoration work have uncovered walls, gates and building foundations, but the real reward is the view: minarets, domes and red roofs below, the river threading through, and the plain of Dukagjin stretching away to the north-west.

TipWalk up an hour before sunset and bring water; there is little shade on the path. Good shoes help on the polished cobbles.

About three kilometres up the narrow Lumbardhi gorge from town are the ruins of the great monastery founded in the 1340s by Tsar Stefan Dušan, the most powerful of the medieval Serbian rulers, who chose it as his burial place. It was demolished in the sixteenth century and much of its stone was carted down the valley for Ottoman building projects. A small community of Orthodox monks has lived in a newer monastery beside the ruins since the late 1990s. The road up the gorge, with the river rushing below, makes a pleasant walk or short drive in its own right.

TipThe monastery is a working religious community. Dress modestly and check locally that it is open to visitors before going.

On the road north-west towards Dečani, Gjakova has one of the longest Ottoman bazaars in the Balkans, a cobbled street of low wooden shops with overhanging eaves that once hosted hundreds of craftsmen. Much of it burned in 1999 and it has been carefully rebuilt, so today it is lined with cafés, tailors, jewellers and souvenir shops rather than the saddlers and blacksmiths of old. At its edge stands the sixteenth-century Hadum Mosque, with a painted porch and a peaceful courtyard. It is an easy stop for coffee and a stroll, about an hour from Prizren.

In a wooded valley at the foot of the mountains, this fourteenth-century Serbian Orthodox monastery is the jewel of Kosovo's medieval heritage and part of the UNESCO site. The church, built of alternating bands of pale and rose-coloured marble, blends Romanesque and Byzantine styles, and its interior holds one of the largest and best-preserved cycles of Byzantine-era frescoes anywhere: thousands of figures, from saints and emperors to a vivid Last Judgement. A community of monks still lives here, and the monastery shop sells their wine, cheese and honey.

The monastery is one of the few sites still guarded by KFOR peacekeepers, and the security arrangements are part of the visit. Expect a checkpoint at the entrance where soldiers check identity and may keep your passport or ID card until you leave. Rules can change at short notice, so check locally before setting out.

TipCarry your passport, dress modestly (long trousers or skirts, covered shoulders) and keep photography respectful; ask before photographing inside the church.

On the western edge of Peja, where the Rugova Gorge opens out, a walled garden encloses four interconnected thirteenth- and fourteenth-century churches painted a deep red. This was the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church's patriarchs for centuries and remains a spiritual centre, now home to a community of nuns. The frescoes inside span more than a century of medieval painting, and the dim interiors, with their layered domes and icons, feel very far removed from the busy town a few minutes away. It is the third of the UNESCO-listed monasteries on this route.

TipThere is usually a police post at the gate where you show ID. Visiting hours are limited and the nuns ask for modest dress.

Peja (Peć in Serbian) is Kosovo's outdoor capital and a lively small city in its own right. Its restored Ottoman bazaar, the Çarshia, is a tangle of low shops and cafés around the fifteenth-century Bajrakli Mosque, with the mountains looming at the end of every street. It is a good place to find guides for hiking, climbing and caving, and the town's guesthouses make a comfortable base for a night or two. The local Peja beer, brewed here since the 1970s, is on tap almost everywhere.

West of Peja, the road to Montenegro climbs into a narrow limestone canyon carved by the Peja Bistrica river, with sheer walls hundreds of metres high and the water flashing below. The gorge is the gateway to the Rugova mountains, part of the Accursed Mountains range shared with Albania and Montenegro, and it has become Kosovo's adventure playground, with via ferrata routes, a long zipline, rock climbing, caves and some of the best hiking in the western Balkans, including stretches of the cross-border Peaks of the Balkans trail. Higher up, summer shepherd villages and alpine pastures spread out under the peaks.

TipBook via ferrata and zipline sessions with licensed local operators in Peja, who supply equipment. Stay on marked trails, especially near the borders.

Pristina is a scruffy, likeable, fast-changing capital, and its best-known landmark sums up its mood. Unveiled on the day Kosovo declared independence in February 2008, the giant yellow letters spelling NEWBORN were signed by thousands of people that day and have been repainted every year since on the anniversary, each time with a different design and message. It stands on a plaza in the centre, a short walk from the pedestrian boulevard where the city does its evening promenading.

TipCheck what this year's design is about before you go; the theme often addresses a current social or political issue.

A few minutes south, on the university campus, is one of the most talked-about buildings in Europe. Completed in 1982 to a design by the Croatian architect Andrija Mutnjaković, the library is a cluster of white cubes and domes wrapped in a metal lattice, and it divides opinion fiercely: some find it ugly, others think it a masterpiece of Yugoslav-era modernism. Whatever you decide, it is fascinating up close. Next to it stands the unfinished shell of an Orthodox church begun in the 1990s, a reminder of how contested this ground has been.

TipThe building is a working library. Visitors can usually look into the main hall during opening hours; be quiet and ask staff before photographing.

Kosovo's gratitude to the NATO countries that intervened in 1999 is visible all over Pristina, but nowhere more literally than on Bill Clinton Boulevard, where a statue of the former US president waves from a plinth above the traffic beside a giant portrait. Nearby streets carry the names of other foreign figures, and a fashion boutique nearby is named Hillary. It is a quirky, rather touching glimpse into how the war is remembered here. While in the centre, take in the Ottoman-era King Mosque in the old bazaar area, the Ethnological Museum in an old merchant family's houses, and the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa, whose bell tower has a lift up to a viewing platform.

Ten minutes south-east of Pristina, in a mainly Serb town, stands what many consider the most beautiful building of medieval Serbia. King Milutin completed it in 1321, and its stacked arches and domes rise in a near-perfect pyramid of brick and stone. Inside, the frescoes include portraits of the king and his young Byzantine wife, Simonida, whose eyes were scratched out long ago, according to tradition by locals who believed fresco dust had healing powers. Gračanica is the easiest of the UNESCO monasteries to reach by public transport, with frequent buses from Pristina, and nuns still live here.

TipDress modestly. Shops and cafés in Gračanica often price in Serbian dinars as well as euros, and signs are in Cyrillic.

South of Pristina, off the road to Skopje and Prizren, a village shepherd stumbled on this cave in 1966 while digging a well. It is formed in marble rather than the usual limestone, which gives its formations an unusual translucence, and the most celebrated feature is the mass of delicate, twisting helictites, slender crystals that grow in all directions as if ignoring gravity. Guided tours cover a short section of the passages and take about half an hour. It is an easy and surprising stop on the drive back towards Prizren.

TipThe cave stays cool all year, so take a layer even in August. Opening hours can be irregular out of season; check locally before making a special trip.