Zlatibor is a mountainous region situated in the western part of Serbia.

Among the most popular places in Serbia for tourism, Zlatibor's main attractions include health tourism, skiing, and hiking and the longest panoramic gondola lift in the world. Tornik ski resort is located in the area.

The largest city in the region is Uzice-located at the foothills of the mountain—while most of the area belongs to the municipality of Cajetina. The town of Zlatibor has shifted over the years from a group of vacation homes to an urban location with diverse amenities. The The Zlatibor region is divided among two municipalities, Cajetina and Užice, while both lie within the Zlatibor District. The Belgrade-Bar railroad passes through Zlatibor.

Situated at an elevation of just over 1,000 metres, Zlatibor is a climatic resort, characterized by a cool alpine climate, clean air, long periods of sunshine during the summer and a heavy snow cover in winter. Tourist facilities include modern hotels, holiday centers and cottages, sports grounds and skiing tracks.

Tourist era on Zlatibor officially began on 20 August 1893, when the King of Serbia Aleksandar Obrenovic decided to establish a health resort on an initiative from the local hosts. To his honor, a fountain was erected on the place where he had lunch, and named Kraljeva Voda ("King's water"). The fountain was accompanied by the small artificial Zlatibor Lake, formed in 1947. It was built by damming the Obudovica river during one of the Youth work actions, on the project by engineer Miladin Pecinar.

In 1945 the settlement was renamed to Partizanske Vode after Yugoslav Partisans, and 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, Rozanstvo, Ljubiš, Tripkova and the town of Cajetina opened their homes to tourists and built other facilities.

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, the diversion channel will be built around it to conduct dirty water during the rainfall while the multi-purpose floating stage will be placed on the lake.

Since 2005, an annual "Village Multisport Event" (Seoski višeboj) is held in the village of Jablanica. Event consists of performing various old tasks (lighting of the evergreen-produced tar kilns, dancing and singing folk songs, logs sawing, horse races, stone throwing, climbing the poles and, the main event, ox-powered dragging of tree trunks down the mountain). 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 the bungalows in the shape of tents, caravans and wagons, horse stable and Indian village named after Sitting Bull. River which flows through the complex divides it in Western section and a Serbian one across it, which includes church and hamlet.

In the mid-19th century, the business of trade caravans blossomed in the Uzice and Zlatibor area. Merchant heading the caravan was called kiridzija (plural kiridzije). The caravans had 15 to 20 horses and Zlatibor merchants became famous for their work. Photographer Ilija Lazic took a photo of kiridzija Todor Udovicic Gajevic (by some sources Todor Gajovic) in the early 20th century, which became iconic. Lazic named it "Zlatibor's fast train" and used it for postcards. Real railroad reached Uzice in 1912, and number of caravan merchants began to dwindle. With introduction of motor vehicles, kiridžije disappeared by 1950. Based on the photo, Miladin Lekic, self-taught sculptor, carved wooden sculptures of Gajevic (generically referred to as Era, name for the inhabitant of southwest Serbia) and his horse, 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) and 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) tall, respectively. They were made of wood from Stubla: Gajevic from oak, and horse from elm wood. The sculptures were placed in the center of King's Square in 2013, marking 120 years of organized tourism in Zlatibor. During the 2020 reconstruction, the sculptures were moved to the starting section of the promenade. The sculptural group is called "Zlatibor's fast train", after the photo.

After 3 days of trial operation, on 14 January 2021, the longest panoramic gondola lift in the world became operational. It connects the center of Zlatibor with the Tornik peak, via the Ribnica Lake. It is 8.95 km (5.56 mi) long, has 55 gondolas with 10 seats each and is designed to transport 600 passengers in one hour.