Digital Nomads Serbia - Reworking Work from Home

Remote work has freed most IT-folk from postcodes, but each summer the pattern recurs: laptops simmer in sweltering flats or co-works while brains throttle on hot asphalt.

There's a much cooler alternative just south-east of the Alps. You've got high plateaux, glacial lakes, and some backroads in the Western Balkans that remain at least ten degrees cooler than the city — framed by scenic vistas and a night sky so clear you’ll relearn every constellation in a single glance.

With a well-equipped campervan, those altitudes could become your home and your office, where the fifteen-minute break between meetings becomes a refreshing swim that clears your head and gets you up to speed on things. You save your PTO for the beaches; during the week, you simply change where you work from.

Abandon asphalt and three things run low simultaneously: electricity, data signal and provisions—above all, drinking water. A modern laptop without power is a mute aluminium brick, LTE is the first service to disappear in the most beautiful valleys, and gravel roads that were solid underfoot last autumn can be washed away by spring storms. Springs provide the solution to hydration, but several are unmarked and the closest store can be hours down the hill. Embracing those boundaries in advance is the difference between version-controlled serenity and tickets stuck due to the battery running out.

This is why Golia was built!

Golia began life as a VW Crafter L2H2 and subsequently converted into off-road cred. Suspensions and raised ground clearance dispatch corrugations that guard most high lakes with ease. On Bosnia’s forest tracks the Crafter receives the highest local praise: “a bigger Golf 2.” Roof-mounted solar panels charge a lithium bank; if clouds linger for days, the alternator can top up, so two power-hungry laptops, a 24-inch screen and the fridge stay alive. Starlink Roam delivers bandwidth and latency for several video calls simultaneously.

Four belted seats and a convertible child bunk transform the dinette into classroom at nine, dev-space at noon and bed by ten, bringing energy, internet and family shelter on the same chassis that gets to the remotest trailhead.

A workday in practice—children included

Imagine waking up near a lonely glacial lake. Morning light angles across the tabletop as the air is single-digit cool. By five in the afternoon, the Pacific coast is brewing its first cup of coffee; you send off the morning's work for review and join the daily stand-up from a picnic table that still has that sun-warmed resin scent, while the kids fill enamel mugs with wild blueberries and debate whether they're sweeter fresh or stirred into porridge.

At meeting gap you run the shore trail, plunge into turquoise water and emerge to the ringtone of the next sync. The deploy is green by night; a kettle of mountain mint picked along the trail becomes herbal tea, charcoal burns in a seasoned fire ring, and the Milky Way soon outshines the screen.

Fire, footprint and remaining welcome

Open fire is a privilege. Light only where charred stones attest to previous use; have water handy and drown embers until cold to the hand. Rangers in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia generally accept discreet overnights; Croatia and most of Slovenia would prefer you to use official campsites, so always have a legal alternative in the route plan. Remove all coffee grounds and crumbs; the rule is simple: leave not a byte, leave not a trace.

Preparation that saves nerves

Top up the fresh-water tank, fill up the diesel at the last available gas station, stock up with at least 20L of drinking water and enough groceries to last your stay. If barbecue is on the menu, stock up on charcoal before the mountains turn it into truffles. Load offline maps to destination; dead spots are no issue when the waypoints live on your device.

Plot your itinerary with two tabs open: Park4Night to flag spots that mention a drinkable spring, and Wikiloc or AllTrails to verify there’s a signed footpath starting within walking distance. Always have an alternative camping spot planned as well.

Road conditions on forums age fast; ask locals, forest rangers or park staff—yesterday’s storm can down a spruce across the only exit. Check the weather and local news each morning; mountain thunderheads build faster than sprint backlogs.

Some of our favourite spots

Orlovačko Lake, Zelengora — alpine meadow at 1 438 m with water so still it doesn't reflect, and no cellular signal; the final hour of gravel provides you with night skies so bright, they'll make your IDE jealous

Vražje Lake, Durmitor plateau — turquoise shallows at 1 500 m, a light breeze that keeps hardware cool

Pešića Lake, Bjelasica — a spruce-rimmed tarn at 1 843 m, accessible only by high-clearance vehicle; silence so deep you hear trout break the surface

Last update

Wild camping in a networked campervan is less about avoiding work and more about changing what work is. That quiet in which you can hear the compiler fan unwind is the same kind of quiet your kids sleep in after a day spent outdoors.

With Golia supplying power, bandwidth and the guts to follow gravel wherever contour lines lead, the only infrastructure you have left to provide is the next line of code. The rest—cool air, open sky, distraction-free nights—lies between the tree-lines of the Balkans. Close the laptop, swing the rear doors wide, and let tomorrow's stand-up start where the asphalt stops.