Istog, the quiet municipality between Peja and the mountains

Istog (Istok in Serbian) is one of those municipalities hardly anyone puts on their route, and which make sense for people who already know Peja. There is no famous monument, but there is a striking cluster of protected Orthodox heritage, kullas and ancient remains in a small area.

The municipality in figures

ASK, the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, counted 33,008 people in Istog in 2024, against 39,289 in 2011, spread over 50 settlements. By my own sum that is 16 % fewer people in thirteen years, a fall similar to other rural municipalities in the west. The main town had 5,522, followed by Vrellë with 2,412, Gjurakoc with 1,755, Staradran and Studenicë. According to OpenStreetMap, Istog makes up the Peja region together with Peja and Klina, and the Bjeshkët e Nemuna National Park law names it among the park’s five municipalities.

Monasteries and churches with Special Protective Zones

Law 03/L-039 of 2008 on Special Protective Zones, the same law that covers the Patriarchate of Peć, lists three Orthodox sites in Istog. Gorioč monastery has a zone with its own map; the Virgin of Hvosno monastery a 100 m band around it; and St Nicholas church at Gjurakoc a 50 m band. No official source gives opening times or visiting rules, so I cannot tell you whether you will find them open. I would go dressed appropriately, unhurried, and ready to accept that sometimes you only see the outside. I look at the monasteries across Kosovo as a group in Kosovo’s Orthodox monasteries.

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What the Culture Ministry lists

The DTK inventory has fourteen entries in the municipality. The oldest are archaeological, a 4th-century early Christian church at Vrellë, a 4th-century Roman site at Cërcë, Bronze Age Illyrian burial mounds at Nëngurë and an Iron Age site at Banja e Pejës. The church of St John at Cerkulez is 14th century.

Then come the kullas, the stone tower houses, mostly 19th century, at Vrellë, Lubovë, Shushic, Kaliçan and Istog i Ulët, plus a mill with a kulla at Vrellë, the mosque at Kaliçan and a school with a park at Dobrushë. If kullas as a building type interest you, I explain them in kullas in Kosovo.

How I would fit it in

With a car, Istog takes a morning from Peja, which is where I would stay. I have no official source for road distances, so no kilometres from me. Do not try to see everything on the list. Pick Gorioč or Hvosno plus one or two kullas at Vrellë, and head back to Peja for lunch. If you are driving a hire car from Serbia, check first that the company allows it into Kosovo, because the FCDO warns that many do not.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Peja on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Peja for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.