Beautiful Belgrade - 7 top things to do
A spectacular city that has all the potential to be a leader in tourism once the stereotype changes!
This was our third trip to Belgrade and we can't get enough of the beauty, culture and history of a city that had such a turbulent history but one that you can see only getting better, through the forward-thinking of its citizens.
Before we get into the 7 top things to do in the city, we have to give a bit more of the narrative of our previous trips. Last summer, we arrived in Belgrade before we embarked on our trip around the Balkans (Former Yugoslavia) to see and stay in all the different countries and their towns. With it being our first visit, we didn't know too much about what to do other than the research that I had done prior to the trip and speaking to Anya's father, that travels through Belgrade regularly. Our second trip to Belgrade was to end our incredible Balkan adventure and fly back to Abu Dhabi for us to go back to work as our summer school holidays had come to an end (Teachers).
This most recent trip was for my Stag Do/Batchelor Party, I know I hear you say 'Why Belgrade?' but I will explain 😁
The city of Belgrade literally has everything that a tourist or expat could ever want. The class in eateries throughout the city, endless adventures all on your doorstep, friendly locals that are willing to help and guide you at any opportunity and the price of everything being much more affordable than most capital cities around the world.
Also, a huge play on my mind for my Batchelor party was for my friends and family to see a part of the world that they had never thought about exploring, this was extremely important for me.
With all this experience in a city that we had visited on a number of occasions, we have found 7 of the top things to visit in Belgrade, Serbia 🇷🇸
1. Experience the Church of Saint Sava
To start off our suggestions, we will begin with visiting one of the most spectacular buildings that stands higher than the majority of buildings in Belgrade - The Church of Saint Sava.
From many areas across the Serbian Capital, you are able to see the edifice that every day brings a large number of people to the Svetosavski Trg square.
The reason for this location is that it is believed to be the location where the remains of Saint Sava were burned in 1595 by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha in order to break the Serbian spirit.
Its magnificent appearance and sacred spirit is said to protect the skies of the city of Belgrade.
The Church of Saint Sava is not only the largest Serbian Orthodox church, it is the largest Orthodox place of worship in the Balkans and one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. When inside, you can completely understand the grand scale of the church by looking up and being blown away by the interior.
I have visited it twice, once being with Anya and the second with my father. On both occasions, we were very impressed by the amount of gold and the beautiful artwork that covers all of the inner walls. Due to it being enhanced as we speak, there's a little building work going on but it doesn't stop you enjoying any of the amazing structure.
Any visit to the city of Belgrade has to have this statement church at the very top of your itinerary.
2. Touring the Nikola Tesla Museum
A visit to the Nikola Tesla Museum is definitely a must when in Belgrade. The science museum is located a short walk from the main Knez Mihailova street and is worth the walk. The museum is dedicated to honouring and displaying the life and work of Nikola Tesla as well as being his final resting place. It holds more than 160,000 original documents, over 2,000 books and journals, over 1,200 historical technical exhibits, over 1,500 photographs and photo plates of original, technical objects, instruments and apparatus, and over 1,000 plans and drawings that made him one of the most important scientists to have ever lived.
The Nikola Tesla Archive was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Register in 2003 due to its critical role regarding history of electrification of the world and future technological advancements in this area.
On both occasions visiting the museum, it is extremely important that you speak to the main office first before walking there, as both occasions I have had to wait over an hour for the next English speaking tour.
When finally making the tour, you really find out about how important Nikola Tesla was to electricity being used around the world. He is actually quite an unknown scientist compared to Einstein but he could be regarded as just as important.
You even get the opportunity to use some of his inventions on the tour and it really is ELECTRIFYING! Anya had a go at one and it was hilarious to see her reaction to having electricity pass through her hand.
3. Walk around Kalemegdan Park
One of the most popular attractions in Belgrade has to be the Kalemegdan Park, that can be found surrounding the Belgrade Fortress. It is the largest park and also the most important historical monument in Belgrade. When you look out from the park, you are able to see where the river Sava meets the river Danube.
During the summer, the park becomes somewhat of a hotspot for locals to meet friends and family whilst eating and drinking in the picturesque surroundings.
With Belgrade being such an amazing city for its food, a great way to get out and exercise is by walking around the Kalemegdan park and fortress grounds. It is free to walk around and enjoy the beauty with every path.
A few little spots to stop and explore in the park are the Dino Park, little viewpoint cafes and the war museum, which are all on the park grounds.
4. Visit a Partizan Belgrade/Red Star Belgrade match
If you are a fan of sports and more specifically football, then a visit to a local football match has definitely got to be on the cards. To watch either of the historic teams Partizan Belgrade or Red Star Belgrade, is one of the greatest experiences in this amazing city.
Both teams have so much history and it all depends on which team is playing at home when you are there. Our trip fell perfectly on Partizan Belgrade playing at home and it only felt right to organise a visit for me and the boys to see why these teams are renowned for the atmospheres that are created on match day.
A great afternoon out with the boys and it was amazing to see how the electrifying atmosphere from the Partizan Belgrade fans was so different to watching football in England. Partizan ended up winning the game 2-0 in a league match but it was more about enduring the vast amount of season weather at once, ranging from hailstones, to rain and then sun all in 25 minutes of the match.
If you are able to make the local derby between both of the teams, then get ready for apparently an extremely hostile environment but one that is meant to be one of the best in the world in the derby day. It would be highly recommended to pay the extra 200 dinar to sit on the half way line of the pitch, this is away from the hardcore fans and has cover from the weather if needed.
Highly recommended to all sports fans!
5. Underground Belgrade Tour
Now to focus on a tour that took us to places that even Anya's father that had never even known about and he had been visiting the city for the past 40+ years.
The Underground Belgrade Tour is hosted by an extremely informative Get Your Guide tour guide.
The underground tour takes you back to a time when Belgrade was either inhabited or attacked during the Roman, Austrian and Turkish periods. A few of the hidden spots that you can only visit through this tour are:
The Roman hall, which contains the foundation of the main gate of the Roman fortress from the 2nd century.
The Roman well and Tito's army bunker from the Informbiro period.
A large gunpowder warehouse. This warehouse is now a Roman exhibit that keeps sarcophagus, tombs and altars from Serbia. This was used as a nightclub a few years back.
The final point on the tour is a wine cellar where you can sample some local wine.
Whilst walking to each of the historic stops, the tour guide tells stories about the unusual history of Belgrade including various human destinies and legends, and enigmas that stimulate the curiosity of history and culture specialists.
We usually find local walking tours on all our trips, as they provide inner local knowledge that you would never know just from researching on the internet.
If a tour is able to teach a local more about the history and take them to places that they never knew existed, then it has to be a very good tour if you ask me and now Anya's Dad is an expert on Belgrade.
Highly recommended!
6. Beer Tour Belgrade with Marija at @alternative_serbia
Another amazing tour that was led by someone that we have followed on Instagram for the last few years is @Alternative_Serbia, I asked her for a beer tour that would take me and the boys to spots that are historic to the beer heritage in Belgrade and she duly delivered.
Marija is a recent award winner in the Serbian tourism industry awards and we can completely understand why. She literally knew every detail of the tour that she had created for us and even knew all the details of each brewery that she took us to, this just shows the passion in knowing her speciality inside out.
By the time that we took this tour, we had explored the majority of the city but Marija still took us to spots that Google had not covered and really needs to.
Serbian craft beer is amazing and the hidden bars offer such a different vibe to any on the main streets.
When we head back to Serbia in summer 2022, we will be meeting up with Marija again to hopefully try one of her many other tours and see the city of Belgrade through an award winning tour guide.
Have a look to see the tours that Marija offers 😁 Click Here!
7. Little Bay Belgrade Restaurant
Lastly, if you are looking for one of the most incredible restaurants in Belgrade with fair prices, then look no further than @littlebaybelgrade.
Little Bay restaurant is a part of the restaurant chain of the same name in London and Brighton. After four successful Little Bay restaurants in London, their owner, Dragiša Piter Ilić decided to give his home country some of that bountiful experience.
We have visited here four times and will definitely keep heading there when we are in Belgrade. The food is always top quality and the ambience from being in the opera styled booths to the pianist and violinists playing beautiful melodies in the background as you eat.
Visit their website to book a reservation - Click Here
As you can see, Belgrade is a beautiful city that is only just going to get better with the increased amount of tourists beginning to visit.
When you use any of our recommendations, please tag us @activitytraveller and use the hashtag #activitytraveller ❤️
Enjoy Belgrade and read our next blog about Hotel Moskva, that was the location of our stay in our third visit to beautiful Belgrade 🇷🇸
Thank you for reading!
Patrick 😁