Novi Sad
Serbia
A Habsburg town on the Danube under the Petrovaradin fortress, forty minutes from Belgrade and a good deal calmer
Photo by Nikola Rakic on Unsplash
Photos by Lazar Gugleta, Maria Ivanova and Nikola Johnny Mirkovic on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Serbia
May to June, and September to October
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 85mm in Jun
Where it is
45.25°N, 19.85°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Walk up to Petrovaradin at sunset and read the clock whose hands run the wrong way round
- Spend a summer afternoon on the Štrand
- Take the bus to Sremski Karlovci for the wine and the baroque square
- Drive the Fruška Gora monasteries, three or four in a day
- Come as a day trip from Belgrade at least, by the fast train
Novi Sad travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Serbia
Good valuePay in dinars. The menjačnica exchange offices around Zmaj Jovina and Dunavska give a better rate than the banks and charge no commission. The dinar is hard to sell outside Serbia, so change what is left before you go.
ATMs & cards
Banca Intesa, Raiffeisen, UniCredit and AIK machines in the centre are the ones to use; skip Euronet, and decline the conversion the screen offers. Cards are taken in most cafés and restaurants.
Avoid these
- Euronet
Use these instead
- Banca Intesa
- Raiffeisen
- UniCredit
- AIK Banka
The exchange offices in the centre beat the banks; cards work in most cafés.
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
SafeCalm and easy, more so than Belgrade. The canopy collapse at the railway station in November 2024 killed sixteen people and started the protests that have run across Serbia since; gatherings in the centre are common and have been peaceful, but walk round them. On the river, the Danube current at the Štrand is stronger than it looks.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the Štrand — the Danube current beyond the roped area is strong
- Protest gatherings in the centre, frequent since the 2024 station collapse — peaceful so far, but walk round them
- the fortress ramparts after dark — unlit drops with no railings on parts of the walls
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 goodVojvodina cooking is the Pannonian side of Serbia: fish paprikash, goulash, štrudla with poppy seed, and noodles with sweet things on them. Wine is the local thing rather than rakija — the cellars at Sremski Karlovci make bermet, a spiced dessert wine, and the Fruška Gora wineries are twenty minutes out.
Travel tipsNightlife
A university town’s evening — bars and terraces, busy rather than late. EXIT, the July festival on the fortress, left Serbia after 2025, and the town no longer fills for that week.
- Laze Telečkog — the bar street off Zmaj Jovina
- Petrovaradin Fortress — bars and the summer terraces up on the walls
- Štrand — beach bars on the Danube in summer
Closing: Around 01:00 midweek, 02:00–03:00 at the weekend.
Getting around
Workable- 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 Novi Sad
No Holistay rentals in Novi Sad 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 Novi Sad 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, Belgrade BEG
1h 20mfrom the airport· 60 km as the crow flies
An hour and a quarter by road, or a taxi into Belgrade and then the fast train.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
