1 destination · 10 things to do

Serbia

Belgrade is the Balkans at full volume: a big, warm, unpolished capital on the ridge where the Sava flows into the Danube, with a fortress that has been fought over for two thousand years, cafes that never seem to empty and a nightlife that runs from riverside rafts to smoky taverns. The old town falls away from Kalemegdan Park along Knez Mihailova, the pedestrian spine of the city, towards Republic Square and the grand hotels of Terazije; the bohemian lanes of Skadarlija serve grilled meat and rakija to the sound of tamburica bands; and on Vračar hill the vast white Temple of Saint Sava rises over everything. Belgrade is also a city of layered history, from Roman Singidunum and Ottoman gates to the Austrian gunpowder stores under the fortress, Tito’s House of Flowers and the brutalist blocks of New Belgrade, and it honours its most famous son at the Nikola Tesla Museum. An hour to the north lies Novi Sad, with the great Petrovaradin Fortress, and beyond it the baroque wine town of Sremski Karlovci and the monasteries of Fruška Gora. This guide books the tours worth booking, flags the museum rules that catch visitors out and shows how to fit it all into a first visit.