Zlatibor (Serbian Cyrillic: Златибoр pronounced [zlǎtibɔːr]) is a mountainous region situated in the western part of Serbia.

The town of Zlatibor has changed over the years from a group of vacation homes to an urban location with diverse amenities.

In the Middle Ages, the region was known as Rujno, a župa that was part of Raška, a centre of the medieval Serbian state.

[5] A hill by the name of Cigla, located near the nearby village of Jablanica, still has some borderline markings of the Kingdom of Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

In the late 1941, the mountain became a focal point of the treasure hunt connected with the withdrawal of the Partisans from the collapsing free territory of the Republic of Užice.

After the war, the official story of the Partisans was that all the money was later seized by the Germans and the Chetniks, but after the fall of Communism, different information surfaced.

[6] On 28 November 1941, Josip Broz Tito and Slobodan Penezić Krcun ordered the silver to be transported to the Zlatibor villa of the Belgrade lawyer Aca Pavlović.

[6] According to the report of the Chief of Staff, the Partisans lost half of the paper money during the withdrawal across the Zlatibor, while the silver coins were sloppily buried and then stolen by "some people".

Germans discovered the main vault left by the Partisans (1.8 million dinars at the time) in the search party organized on 3 December.

The airmen were later secretly transported to the airstrip in Pranjani, some 75 km (47 mi) to the northeast, from where they were airlifted by the Allied forces in Operation Halyard.

Tourist facilities include modern hotels, holiday centers and cottages, sports grounds and skiing tracks.

A tourist era on Zlatibor officially began on 20 August 1893, when the King of Serbia Aleksandar Obrenović decided to establish a health resort after an initiative from local hoteliers.

It was built by damming the Obudovica river during one of the Youth work actions, in a project by engineer Miladin Pećinar.

[14] Pećinar planned to turn the bogs which surrounded the Obudovica into lake during Interbellum, and finished the project on 2 January 1941.

In 1945 the settlement was renamed Partizanske Vode after Yugoslav Partisans, but in 1991 the town received the current name Zlatibor.

The area is a location of numerous hotels, villas, restaurants, open swimming pools and other sports facilities.

Eventually, residents of surrounding villages of Sirogojno, Gostilje, Jablanica, Rožanstvo, Ljubiš, Tripkova and the town of Čajetina opened their homes to tourists and built other facilities.

[17] The lake was completely emptied in April and May 2020 for renovation, which includes the nearby Kraljev Trg ("King's Square").

The lakebed was washed and cleaned, a diversion channel will be built around it to conduct dirty water during the rainfall, and a multi-purpose floating stage will be placed on the lake.

[14] The floating multi-media fountain, with light, video, laser, and audio effects, and with the 18 m (59 ft) tall water jet, became operational on the lake on 29 June 2022.

[20] At the Vodice locality, 14 km (8.7 mi) from Zlatibor town, a Western-style resort and theme park "El Paso City" was opened in May 2020.

It covers 6 ha (15 acres), including a hotel but also bungalows in the shape of tents, caravans and wagons, horse stable and Indian village named after Sitting Bull.

[22] Thanks to the geographic configuration and favorable microclimate, which includes temperate wind intensity, Zlatibor is one of the most suitable paragliding locations in Serbia.

[24][25] The process began in January 2016, and in October 2017 the government placed part of the mountain under protection as the Nature Park of Zlatibor.

The land within the "protected area of exceptional importance" (IUCN Category I) is 56% privately owned and covers the villages of Semegnjevo, Jablanica, Stublo, Dobroselica, Ljubiš and Gostilje.

A program was proposed in March 2023 which includes bear-proof fences, introduction of more shepherd dogs and strategic planting of specific trees.