Eastern European hub with war-torn buildings, and many hidden Slavic cultural charms.
Belgrade (and probably Serbia in general) is a totally underrated city. At first glance, it seems to be a small ugly-ish city without much going on. Not only are the buildings destroyed by war, they’re also covered in a layer of dark dirt from the coal pollution (burned during winter months). Sure, Belgrade is really cheap compared the rest of Western Europe. But it also isn’t as picturesque or grand as other European cities. None of the colorful charms.
Many people say Belgrade’s true beauty lies underneath its ugly surface aesthetic. That a subtle and hidden charm exists and when found, becomes a favorite charmy little city.
So did I find Belgrade’s hidden beauty?
At first, no. I saw only its surface aesthetic of being ugly and small. Buncha flat land spreading across a plain waterfront with boringish unfinished castle wall structures. Belgrade was only intended as a stopping point to Turkey and onwards I continued to Turkey with no desire to linger in Belgrade for any longer.
However when I came by the second time. I stayed in a different neighborhood and met locals who showed me around. Then I LOVED it. Super nice vibe, unpretentious, friendly personable people (especially if you know locals). Super clean nice Saint Sava church. Weird disco light building that shines every night. Nice food and bar scene. The city is super chill but also lots of party and nightlife for whatever mood you’re in. Now that I found its beauty, I’ll do my best to convince you that it DOES exist.
Main highlights can be done in 2 days, but you could also fall in love and live here without getting bored.
Where to stay:
- “Bar street” – my absolute favorite area to stay. Walking distance to many cool things and also right next to great cafes, restaurants, bars, and some nightlife where you’ll likely spend more of your time. Use “Pantis Bistro” as your marker and walk in any direction from here. Further up the hill (probably best) or sideways. The most popular sexy bar is in this area. It’s called “bar street” since dozens of new bars opened up here recently.
- Skadarlija “Bohemian street” – just a couple blocks down the street from “bar street” and leads right into the city center Republic Square. Nice big murals on the walls and many fancy restaurants with live traditional music. Also bars and clubs are here.
- Republic Square – this is more of the proper city center where people actually pass through. If you don’t know what you’re doing and want to be near “tourist things”. I think anything between Republic Square and the Belgrade Fortress is ok.
- Tourist Center – the area near the Belgrade Fortress. This is where most people try to stay on their first visit. And it’s the biggest mistake. Belgrade’s strength isn’t in its tourist center, which isn’t as pretty or comparable to the grander European cities. Speaking of which…Belgrade is more of a city for living than for visiting/touristing.
- Saint Sava Church – the surrounding area (Vracar, pronounced [vra-cha]) of the Saint Sava Church. I think is also a nice place to stay, upscale and hip. It may not seem on the surface as cool or as near the main areas above. But nonetheless, it’s desirable for locals and has lots of shops and stuff.
- Tasmajdan – another great local area, centered around a park with nice big Saint Mark church. Bars, restaurants, shops.
- Belgrade Waterfront (“Savamala”) – I definitely would not stay here unless you know for sure you want to party here every night.
- New Belgrade – lacking Belgrade’s charms. I personally wouldn’t stay here because it’s far from the “cool stuff”. But people do like the modern buildings, green spaces. Depending on who you talk to, some people say it’s clean and bright compared to depressing Old Belgrade. Others say the opposite that Old Belgrade is lively and New Belgrade is depressing/communist.
Old Belgrade is the main tourist and city center. New Belgrade is that suburb area you pass from the airport to the Old Belgrade. There’s water and several bridges connecting the 2.
Hostels:
- I haven’t tried any. AirBnB is so cheap and I already had local friends.
Hotels:
- Hotel Argo – good area and only $8-10usd per night.
Neighborhoods & Walking areas:
- Belgrade Fortress – walk the fortress area and then down the big commercial street “Kneza Mihaila” or “Knez Mihailova” with tiled floor and restaurants/shops. Try not to spend more than 2 hours here in the afternoon if it’s your first time. There are more charmy things to see. At night, you can come back and sit with a water view.
- Belgrade Waterfront – tons of restaurants, bars, and clubs all along the water. Best for evening hours. On nights when you want to dress up and go out and see other party people.
- Republic Square – the square with the horse statue and official buildings. And then busy downtown area around it. Come here.
- Bohemia street – fun to walk around at day or night but night is when it really lights up. The crowd is both a mix of younger hip party people and older people dressed up for nice evening dinner.
- Bar street – also close to the Bohemia St, so you can walk both areas together in the same walk.
- Tasmajdan Park – nice park with a nice church (interesting design). The area around it has many shops and restaurants as well. There’s also nice outdoor cafes around the park.
- Jevremovac Botanical Garden – not the most amazing thing in terms of unique tourist value, but a nice little getaway for the locals.
Activities to do:
- Saint Sava Temple – super beautiful. And you must go inside. So much cleaner and “newer” looking than many other churches in Europe. The church can be easily seen within 30 minutes. Then you can hangout outside during the day or even at night. There’s a park and benches to sit and relax.
- Shopping – I like shopping in Serbia because it’s cheap. Delta City is considered the best shopping mall probably because it’s in New Belgrade, great selection, modern, lots of space and not crowded. Go on the weekdays and you’ll easily be in and out in no time at all. USCE Shopping Center is the other “best mall” depending on who you talk to. And then there’s also Rajiceva Shopping Center right in tourist center.
- Kalenic Green Market – classic outdoor marketplace with lots of little booths and things for sale. Not exactly the most impressive tourist thing to see but perhaps useful or fun if you like that sort of thing. Weekends are better as they have live music and more things going on.
Maybe your very first day, check out the fortress and then walk past Republic Square and eat by Skadarlija. Second day, you get breakfast at the bar street and then go to the Saint Sava Church, then eat at Frans or return to bar street. Third day you can spend your day wherever and then check out Belgrade Waterfront at night.
Restaurants & Cafes:
- Frans Restoran – really nice high-end dining spot, delicious high-quality food, but cheap price for foreigners. Look at photos and dress accordingly. I just let the waiter handle my order and I loved everything he brought out for me. It’s also nearby the St Sava Temple in case you wanted to do these 2 together.
- Lorenzo & Kakalamba – super nice Instagram decor restaurant. For you travelers wanting unique destination photos to show off. Touristy spot.
- Bohemia street & Bar street – tons of great stuff on here. Just open up Google Maps and read reviews.
- Smokvica – nice local cafe with outdoor courtyard, nice decor and great food/coffee and friendly service. Also popular chill co-working spot. They have several so pay attention to the one I marked specifically (in bar street area). All of them are pretty solid though.
- Zavicaj – delicious local spot with local food. Great for any time of day.
- Botako – really great pasta and pizza. I ate the one in Vracar.
- Restoran Potpis – amazing traditional food.
- Ferdinand Kneedle – delicious pastry balls with stuffing inside. They have both savory and sweet flavors. Really good stuff and you should try it. I linked the more central location. This is a must try for many people who know it.
- Kolibri Ice Cream – good local ice cream shop if you’re looking for one. There’s an even better one than this but I forgot. This one is still super solid!
- Roll Bar Cafe – cheap no-frills cafe restaurant near the tourist center with nice view of the local life passing by. My friend used to play here as a kid.
- The Food Story – a friend said she liked the pastries here.
- Street Pasta Bar – good pasta, fast and cheap. For when you’re hungry and don’t have much time but still want something good. Also has nice mixed juices. I usually go to the one on Kralja Milana.
- Crna Ovca – amazing ice cream chain. And trust me, cuz I’m an ice cream snob!!!
Local fancy foods are the grilled meat and steak, cheese and potato stuff. Local cheap foods are cevapi meat/burger. Serbian food is generally all about meat. They have some fish stuff too but the meat ones are usually better. The cheaper the place looks, the more you should only try the meat stuff and not mess around with pasta or whatever other random stuff they have.
I absolutely love the meat and steak in Serbia. Much better IMO than like Argentinean steak. Seriously…the way they do it is perfect!!!
For whatever reason, Serbians do American fast food type stuff really well…burgers, hot dogs, pizzas. All are delicious!
Bars & Clubs:
The Belgrade nightlife is truly awesome. I just haven’t tried much of it yet cuz the local hangout spots were cool already. But you can also see party people running around all over the place. Checkout these areas and see which vibes you like best. Also helps to ask locals. Or stay at a hostel and see what they recommend.
- Bar street (area) – absolutely my check this out, especially for the young hip crowd.
- Bohemia street (area) – must see especially for couples.
- Republic Square (area) – super young high-school and college kids noisy area around city center. Probably not my first choice.
- Belgrade Waterfront (area) – young sexy hip crowd and in large groups. Not recommended for first time tourists. More for like upscale groups of locals. Kinda more commercially and status-ey rather than vibey.
- Kafe Bar Blaznavac…awesome hip spot (and good hip area), much bigger than it looks from the outside. Probably #1 most popular bar in Belgrade and for good reason.
- Sprat – awesome bar but more importantly, awesome area. Tons of cool bars and restaurants around here. Good local vibe!
- Red Bar – a good bar for any night of the week if you don’t know what you’re doing. Always open, decent crowd so you’re not alone. Has indoor and outdoor, also upstairs seating.
- Kaldrma – right across from Red Bar a couple meter downs the road. More of a dive-spot. Has indoor with loud music and outdoor more “chill-ish” if you don’t want loud music. Another good option if you don’t know where else to go.
- Telma – classy upscale local bar, nice vibe and music. Talkable.
Nice places for when you
- Mama Shelter – (on top floor of Rajiceva Mall) is huge with many seats and terrace. Nice social atmosphere with music. Good food and attentive service too. Good choice if you don’t know where to go and/or have a big group that doesn’t fit easily into the small hip neighborhood bars.
- Terminal – typical big classy restaurant bar across the street from Saint Sava Church. Great food and service here. In terms of trend, I think a local would say it sucks now or is no longer the place to be…but I had a nice experience.
Miscellaneous tips:
- Rideshare Apps – I like YandexGo (Russian). For me it’s the best rideshare app, works like Uber, can choose to pay cash (to driver) or card (through app). You can also use CarGO (Serbian) or Uber. I think YandexGo is cheaper than all 3.
- Getting from airport to city center – do not take a taxi if you’re don’t know what you’re doing. Many will rip you off charging 50 euros when it can be done for 15-25 euros (depending on time of arrival). Don’t take taxi from lower level (Departures), go upstairs to upper level (Arrivals) and it’s cheaper. Also make sure your taxi license plate ends in “TX”. Cheapest option is walk out towards the street to the bus stop area just outside the building. Take either the A1 bus (400rsd) or #72 bus (150rsd) to the city center. These are super cheap and you only have to wait max of 20mins for the next one.
- Best taxi companies – Pink (00381654889977), Naxis (call 0038163581111, Viber msg 00381642229804, Tweet @NAXIStaxi), Gold (00381604040677), Lux (00381653033123). Careful not to delay your airport dropoff, taxis are usually CASH ONLY. In some instances they might take euros. There’s also an app to call a taxi.
- Activating hot water – sometimes the bathroom hot water is usually turned on by a switch at the door. Remember to press it at least 30-60 minutes before you want to shower or do laundry so it heats up in time.
- SIM cards – you should buy from the actual carrier store (especially if you need ESIM). Prices are usually 600rsd for 15GB (15 days) or 1000rsd for 50GB (30 days). Pretty cheap IMO.
- Food delivery app – they use Glovo here. I’m sure there’s other ones but I haven’t tried. If you have problems registering, just buy a Serbian SIM and use the pay-with-cash option.
Nearby towns:
- Novi Sad* – many people say it’s a must-see. It’s only 1 hr away by train and you can even come back the same day. Prettier, cuter, cleaner, nicer and with nicer people and nicer vibes.
Belgrade Food Guide by Misha (cut-paste)
Someone said Comida?! A dear friend of ours, Misha Petrovic, created a fantastic food guide for the marathon that we did in June. Therefore, I will just copy and paste his words, divided into 3 posts, as he did it, because it was for a reason. And because I don’t have much to add and nothing to remove “A short guide to local Belgrade food by a global tango foodie There is a lot of good food in Belgrade, prices ranging from really cheap to moderate, you’d really have to work hard to find something pricey by Western European or US standards.This is a short guide (in several parts) to some of my favorite local places that are also close to Dorcol Platz. Don’t hesitate to ask me for more recommendations or any type of local advice. Bon Appetit!Part 1/3: Padarias, Pizza, GrillBakeriesThe absolutely most common type of eatery in Belgrade is a bakery or “Pekara”. You’ll find these on almost every corner in Belgrade. They sell bread, of course, but also all kinds of sweet and savory pastries, and sometimes also cakes, pizza, etc.There are two big chains, Skroz Dobra Pekara, and Hleb i Kifle, and they are surprisingly cheap and good. Then there are smaller, family run bakeries. I will list a few close to Dorcol Platz, and what they are famous for. (1) Sarlo ŠARLO HlebDobračina 59b, Beograd 11000This one is on the same street as DP, just about 50m down the road. Sells mostly bread and is one of the rare bakeries in Belgrade that has real sourdough bread (their baguettes are not sourdough, though…). The whole sourdough craze hasn’t played out much in Belgrade, at least not yet, so only a few bakeries do the old-fashioned fermentation process. They also have croissants, muffins, home-made preserves, etc.Closes early (4pm) and often runs out of bread before that.(2) Pekarska RadionicaKralja Petra 91, Beograd 11000The other bakery that has sourdough bread, and is a kind of institution in Belgrade, is Pekarska Radionica. It’s still a family run shop, but now renovated, upgraded and benefitting from being in a heavily gentrified area. Large selection of sourdough and yeast breads (hint: only non-white flour breads are sourdough) . About 10 min walk from DP.BUREKAside from bread, one of the traditional pastries/pies local people buy in bakeries is burek. Burek is a quintessential Balkan food, recognized as such by Unesco, and has recently been rated by Lonely Planet as one of the best street foods in the world! Filo dough, in best traditional bakeries made by hand every morning, is filled with cheese, spinach, minced meat, and more recently even sweet fillings such as cherries or nutella (ok, the beloved local version of Nutella, called Eurokrem). It is baked crisp, and sold either by weight from large baking pans, or by piece, rolled into a spiral shape (the word burek derives from Turkish börek, which itself comes from burmak, i.e. to twist). Best eaten hot, straight from the oven, which usually means before 2pm or so, although recently some bakeries would have fresh burek even late in the day. Deemed by many as unhealthy, due to its high fat content, burek is often shunned today in favor of croissants and light pastries, so it’s increasingly more difficult to find a good traditional burek.Warning: all traditional burek in Serbia is made with lard, unlike burek in Bosnia which use vegetable oils. Here are a few options close to DP(3) Burek Shop NanaCara Dušana 33, Beograd 11000Traditional shop with several types of burek, as well as baklavas, tulumbe, etc. (4) Burek shop Nasa PricaDžordža Vašingtona 6A new family-run shop with many types of pies, savory and sweet(5) BobeDubrovačka 24, Beograd 11000An old-fashioned burek shop, a local institutionPizzaUnbeknownst to many foreign visitors, Belgrade is one of the European centers of pizza, rivaling many Italian towns. Lots of local pizza chefs worked for years in Italy, before taking their hard earned savings to open a shop here. Most good pizzas in Belgrade are thin-crust, Neapolitan style. There are a lot of fast food pizza shops, selling pizza by slice (you can often get a whole pie to go, too) as well as more fancy, sit-down options. The former are often open till late, sometimes until 1 or 2am. Here are some good options close to DP(6) Bucko Pizza (by slice)Francuska 18, BeogradOpen till 1am on Fri, Sat, often long queuesCheap and good, and always piping hot. Perhaps the most popular pizza by slice in Belgrade(7) Picerija Kli Kli (by slice, whole)Venizelosova 2, Beograd 11000Open till 1am every dayAnother popular and good option. ( Pizzeria Trg (by slice)Makedonska 5, Beograd 11103Open 24 hoursThis one is in the middle of the main city square, always crowdedand a few fancier, sit-down places, close to the main pedestrian street (Knez Mihajlova)(9) Majstor i MargaritaVuka Karadžića 12, BeogradNamed after the famed Bulgakov’s novel (and pizza margherita, the typical Neapolitan pizza), this shop ends up every year on the prestigious list of the Top 50 European Pizza Restaurants. Definitely worth a try, expect to pay $10-12 for a large (35cm/14in) pie. Bonus: a nice outside seating area on a pedestrian street(10) Giovanni’s PizzeriaNikole Spasića 3, Beograd 11000A smaller but excellent pizza shop, closes by 10pm, locally loved as much as no. 9. Traditional Grill – Cevapcici and PljeskaviceAnother pair of Balkan staple fast foods, both cevapcici (little kebabs) and pljeskavice (burger style patties) are grilled meats, made either from a mix of pork and beef (most common) or pure beef (“juneci”, when they are usually called Bosnian or Sarajevo/ Sarajevski cevap). They are chewier You can order them at pretty much any traditional restaurant in Serbia, and they are also sold at various fast food stands. Pljeskavica stands used to be almost as common as bakeries 15-20 years ago, but nowadays they are a rare sight in downtown Belgrade, being increasingly supplanted by kebab/gyros and burger places. Note that you always have to order grilled meats and then wait 10 min or so, they are never grilled until you order them. fast food options first:(11) BajlonkoSkadarska 47, Beograd 11000This stand, right by one of Belgrade’s traditional open markets, sells all kinds of cooked dishes and pies as well as grilled meats early in the day, and mostly grilled stuff at night. Popular local choice. No tables, but there are benches across the street around a large water fountain.(12) Sarajevski ćevap „To je to“Bulevar despota Stefana 21, Beograd 11000An unassuming, old-fashioned place with a few tables and quick service. Specializes in Sarajevo style, pure beef cevapcici. (13) Drama CevapiDositejeva 7, Beograd 11000Across the street from the back side of the National Theater (hence the drama name), this popular place has a few tables outside. Open until late, quick service. Pure beef. (14) Republika GrillBraće Jugovića 14, Beograd 11000Next door to No. 13, this place is my recent favorite for cevapi. Pure beef(15) WalterStrahinjića Bana 57, Beograd 11000Walter, sarajevo style cevapcici, is the original location of what became the most popular chain cevap shop in Belgrade. Still excellent, as witnessed by almost 5000 Google reviews I will cover a few full menu traditional restaurants in the second part of this guide, all of them also have grilled meats on offer. I am not a big fan of burgers and greek/turkish style kebab places (gyros/doner/shawarma) in Belgrade, although there are some fine options in that category, too. I will mention one excellent place, though, that gives a contemporary twist to traditional grilled meats:(16) Burgers Stepin vajatBraće Jugovića 21, Beograd 11000You can get pljeskavica/burger here with smoked cheese, plum sauce, truffles, kajmak, and many other interesting sides. Still $6-8 only for a large burger!Stay tuned for Part TwoA short guide to local Belgrade food by a global tango foodie “