Belgrade
Serbia
A fortress over the meeting of the Sava and the Danube, free trams, and evenings that start at midnight on a raft
Photo by Dimitrije Milenkovic on Unsplash
Photos by Ben Asyö, Nikola Tasic, Maria Ivanova and Nikola Cirkovic on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Serbia
April to June, and September to October (high summer is hot, and the city moves onto the river)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 91mm in Jun
Where it is
44.82°N, 20.46°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Walk Kalemegdan at sunset, from the Pobednik statue down to the river
- Spend a long afternoon in Zemun and eat fish on the Danube bank
- Go out late — nobody arrives at a splav before midnight
- See Tito’s grave and the Museum of Yugoslavia in one visit
- Swim and cycle round Ada Ciganlija in the summer
- Look inside the Temple of Saint Sava for the mosaic in the dome
Belgrade travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Serbia
Good valuePay in dinars. The exchange offices (menjačnica) are on every street, licensed, and usually beat both the banks and the airport; compare the buying rate in the window rather than the sign. Euros are quoted for flats and some tours but not used in shops. The dinar is hard to sell outside Serbia, so spend or change it before you leave.
ATMs & cards
Banca Intesa, Raiffeisen, UniCredit and AIK machines are everywhere in the centre. Skip the Euronet machines on Knez Mihailova and around Republic Square, and always decline the machine’s own conversion. Cards are taken almost everywhere, but carry cash for kafanas and bakeries.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- machines on Knez Mihailova and around Republic Square
Use these instead
- Banca Intesa
- Raiffeisen
- UniCredit
- AIK Banka
The menjačnica exchange offices are an honest alternative to a machine, and usually a better rate than any bank.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Serbia
SafeComfortable, and the centre is busy until very late. What catches visitors out is the hours: the river clubs fill after midnight and empty at five, and the taxis waiting outside them are the ones to avoid. Demonstrations in the centre have been frequent since late 2024; walk round them. A Red Star–Partizan derby is the one night to keep away from the stadiums.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the river clubs at closing time — cars waiting outside quote whatever they like; book CarGo before you leave
- taxis outside the airport desk — the drivers who approach you in arrivals are not the voucher taxis
- the Rajko Mitić and Partizan stadiums on derby days — the Red Star–Partizan derby brings riot police and flares; stay clear of both grounds
- Demonstrations in the city centre, which have been frequent since late 2024 — mostly peaceful, but walk round them
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Serbia visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Ninety days in six months from the first entry. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens may enter on an identity card. Serbia is not in the EU or Schengen, so days here do not count against a Schengen allowance.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 30 days
Thirty days without a visa on an ordinary passport.
Visa required in advance
Holders of a valid Schengen, UK, EU or US visa, or of a residence permit from the Schengen area, the EU or the US, may enter without a Serbian visa for up to 90 days in six months.
How to get it: Foreign visitors must be registered with the police within 24 hours of arrival. A hotel does this at check-in; in a private rental, confirm the host will, because an unregistered stay can mean a fine. Make sure the passport is stamped on entry, and do not enter from Kosovo unless you first entered Serbia from somewhere else: Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's border crossings.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Serbia
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Tetanus up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Tick-borne encephalitis for hiking in the forests in summer
- Rabies for a long or rural stay
Getting treated
The cities have good private clinics used to foreigners and cheap by European standards; the public hospitals are adequate and crowded. UK visitors get free emergency treatment under a reciprocal agreement, with a certificate from HMRC; everyone else pays, and insurance with evacuation cover is sensible.
Tap water in the cities is drinkable. Ticks in the forests from spring, and mosquitoes along the rivers in summer, which carry West Nile virus in some years. Winter air pollution in the cities is heavy on still days.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodGrilled meat is the cuisine: ćevapi, pljeskavica, and kajmak with everything, and burek with yoghurt from a bakery for breakfast. A kafana is a long, loud lunch with rakija before it; Skadarlija is the famous street of them and charges for the fame, so eat in Dorćol or Zemun for the same food. Portions are large and prices are low.
Travel tipsNightlife
One of the latest-running cities in Europe: bars until one, then the clubs and the splavovi, the barges moored along the Sava and the Danube, until five.
- the splavovi on the Sava — the river clubs, busy in summer
- Strahinjića Bana — the bar street in Dorćol
- Cetinjska 15 — bars round the courtyard of an old brewery
- Savamala — clubs under the Branko Bridge
- Skadarlija — the old kafana street, with live tamburica bands
Closing: Bars around 01:00; clubs and splavovi 04:00–05:00, and do not fill until after midnight.
Smoking indoors is still common in bars and clubs..
Getting around
Easy- CarGoWorks here
- YangoWorks here
- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
CarGo Belgrade
- Against a taxi
- Street taxis are metered and cheap, but the ones waiting at the airport and the stations are where the stories come from. An app, or a taxi called by phone, removes the argument.
Uber and Bolt do not operate in Serbia.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Belgrade — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Serbia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works here
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Serbian
- HelloДобар дан (Dobar dan)DO-bar dan
- PleaseМолим (Molim)MO-leem
- Thank youХвала (Hvala)HVA-la
- Yes / NoДа / Не (Da / Ne)da / neh
5 more phrases
- Excuse meИзвините (Izvinite)iz-VEE-nee-teh
- How much is it?Колико кошта? (Koliko košta?)KO-li-ko KOSH-ta
- CheersЖивели (Živeli)ZHEE-veh-lee
- DeliciousВрло укусно (Vrlo ukusno)VR-lo OO-koos-no
- GoodbyeДовиђења (Doviđenja)do-vee-JEN-ya
Written in two alphabets: Cyrillic is the official script and the one on government signs, Latin is everywhere else, and most people switch without noticing. The same language as Bosnian, Croatian and Montenegrin in all but name. English is good among the young in the cities.
Travel tipsReligion
Serbian Orthodox, with Catholic and Muslim minorities
About four in five Orthodox, and the church is part of national identity as much as belief. Christmas falls on 7 January by the old calendar, and each family keeps its own patron saint's day, the slava, with an open house. In churches and monasteries cover shoulders and knees, do not photograph a service, and expect to stand: there are few pews.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Accept the rakija you are offered, or at least touch the glass to your lips
- Expect three kisses on the cheeks between friends, men included; a handshake is right for a first meeting
- Take your shoes off in a home, and bring something — sweets, coffee, a bottle — if you are invited
- Say živeli and make eye contact when glasses meet
Don't
- Do not raise Kosovo, the 1999 bombing or the 1990s as small talk; let people bring them up if they choose
- Do not make the three-finger salute as a joke; it is a national gesture and a political one
- Do not photograph military or police buildings
- Do not call the language Croatian, or the other way round, in company
Where to stay in Belgrade
No Holistay rentals in Belgrade yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Belgrade on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Nikola Tesla BEG
30 minfrom the airport· 12 km as the crow flies
30 min by taxi or the A1 minibus to Slavija.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
