Belgrade summary 22

Belgrade was my next visit. With colleagues from work, we decided to visit this city and see the biggest football derby in the region. I like returning to this city because it has a good atmosphere, good food, good nightlife, and good friends, …Below there are links to daily events and then I will describe transport, accommodation, food and drinks, what to see, and COVID restrictions.

Daily review

• Day 1 trip from Ljubljana Belgrade
• Day 2 trip from Belgradeto Đerdap
• Day 3 visiting friends in Belgrade
• Day 4 derby and return from Belgrade to Ljubljana

Transport

Most of the transportation was driving in a car, Rober did a good job in his Škoda. Driving from Ljubljana to Belgrade is around 5 hours. To Đerdap and Kladovo it took 3.5 hours and back over Romania 5 hours. Be careful in the summer or holiday season, border crossing can double your traveling time. The highway cost was around 25 € and Slovenian vignette. The vignette in Romania was 3 €. Gas is around 1.5 €. If you like walking in the city center things are close. A taxi is also a good option, 2-3 € in the center, outside the center up to 10 €. But watch out for scams, the last one overcharged us multiple times. Also, you can use the bus and tram. Soon they are going to start building a metro line.

Accommodation

V city that has 2 Mio inhabitants you can find different options. We took Belgrade City hotel, close to the old railway station. The hotel has 4 stars with an annex that has 3 stars and it was good enough. We had a parking spot, 15 €. Each of us had its own room. For 3 nights I paid 109 €. Emptying the minibar set me back another 9 €. Breakfast was included. During my previous visits, I stayed in a hotel in Novi Beograd or at a friend’s home.

Food and drinks

Belgrade and Serbia in general are famous for meat dishes from the grill. As a tourist, you should visit one of kafana in Skadarlija (3 šešira, 2 jelena, …). You should try as many of ćevapi, pljeskavica, vješalica, prebranac, šobska salad, urnebes, uštipci, … As for dinks, main brands of beer for lagers are Jelen, Lav, Zaječar, Valjevo. There is also a big scene of kraft beers or you can get one of the international brands. Next thing they produce rakija schnaps, mainly from plums but I prefer dunja – quince.

For prices, you can get basic ćevapi for 7 € in the famous 3 šešira but for a nice meal with some drinks, you will probably pay around 20-30 € per person. Pizza with a few drinks was 10 € at Tutto Bene. A beer is between 1,5 and 3 €. Outside the city, center prices go down 20%, and in the countryside, it can be lower up to 50%. So it is one of the cheapest countries in Europe. But still, you can easily spend more than 100 € for 1 night in town.

What to see

In Belgrade, you should walk in the pedestrian zone with many 19th and 20th-century administrative buildings, Skadarlija with famous restaurants. Across from the confluence of rivers Sava and Danube, there is the green hill Kalemegdan with a fort on top. To the south, you will find church st. Savo, main stadium Marakana, and Tito’s resting place – House of Flowers. This city is connected by big rivers. Below Kalemegdan there is Beton Hala with many bars/restaurants that were river port before. Across the Sava River, there is a new residential part of town Novi Beograd. On river banks, you can find many restaurants and bars. There are also a few interesting river islands (Ratno ostrvo, Ada Ciganlija), …). Now there is a Belgrade waterfront built where railway tracks were before.

Even though the capital city is most interesting, there are many things to see outside it. In the north, there is Novi Sad with the famous Exit festival. To the south biggest city is Niš, with čelekula – skull tower. Close is the Guča brass festival. To the east, there is a Đerdap gorge. To the west, there are skiing slopes with Zlatibor being the most famous.

COVID

When we stopped in Croatia at a gas station just a few people wore masks, in Serbia on the gas station nobody had masks. In Belgrade only in taxis, we had masks. In Galerija mall half of the people had asked. In Brodić splav they asked me after 20 hours if I had COVID pass. On the borders no checks, just police who asked us when we entered from Romania if we were vaccinated but didn’t inspect the pass. So it looks like COVID times are over, in Serbia sooner then in other places.