The blue Danube, looking Eastwards

An ideal place for a walk, for sports and recreation, the Danube quay is also home to very interesting architecture, monuments, and it passes below Kalemegdan fortress. The two most important landmarks, visible from the Danube and from Kalemegdan, are the medieval “Nebojša” tower, and the recently renewed sports center Milan – Gale Muškatirović, a.k.a 25th. May, with it’s monumental wave-like pool hall. A few years ago, part of the center was reconstructed into the tennis center where Serbia Open takes place each year.

On the one km long quay, there’s a walking path, a bicycle/skating path, football, basketball & tennis courts. In summer you can see many people in swimming suits and the world famous gorgeous girls in bikinis, due to one of the largest public pools in Belgrade.

From the quay you can go to Lower Kalemegdan, passing by the Nebojša Tower, or you can continue straight forward and enter the Sava port, home to several mainstream cafes and clubs, situated below the historic neighborhood of Kosančićev Venac. The path leads to Ada Ciganlija, also known as the “Sea of Belgrade”.

Belgrade’s bungee center operates one of the highest cranes in the world, 55 m tall.

The jump is instructed and supervised by a professional team, and the price is about 35 €. Minors are allowed to jump with a parent’s permission and presence.

The platform is open from May 1st to the end of August, though during May it works only on weekends.

Fun facts:

• In the last 4 years, the oldest jumper was a 65 year old and the youngest only 10.
• The bungee center celebrates it’s twentieth anniversary this year.
• While the elevator is climbing to the jumping point, the whole beach cheers the jumper.

About a dozen public bus lines stop by the entry to Ada Ciganlija, connecting it with downtown and the southern suburbs.

Ada Ciganlija on Wikipedia

Here’s a few photos of the new Ada bridge and the Belgrade skyline from Beobuild.rs

Click here to see all 25 photos on Beobuild.rs

The organizers expect the participation of around 40 cars & 10 motorcycles, that will depart from the parking of the sports center 25. May, continuing with a show-off ride around Kalemegdan, and then heading to an open exposition of the vehicles in Knez Mihailova street.

Sources: 24Sata, Blic

Here’s some museums and galleries that would give you an insight into the rich culture and history of Serbia and it’s people.

Main (under construction) museums

National museum

The national museum in Belgrade houses many famous pieces of national and international art from all periods as well as some priceless monuments from the Roman era. Unfortunately, it’s been closed during the last decade due to reconstruction and it seems it will also be closed during the current one. Fortunately, during the manifestation “Noć muzeja” (Museum night) they open a gallery or two of the museum letting mortals enter their realms.

Belgrade city museum

It recently got it’s own building and it’s now in the painstaking process of adapting it and moving it’s impressive inventory. It’s also open from time to time, though it looks a bit spooky at the moment. Hopefully this one will open completely in the next year or two.

Serbian history museum

Although of high importance, as far as I know, this museum isn’t opened yet, though it should have been a year or two ago. The Serbian history museum owns a significant collection of objects related to historical events and personalities of Serbia and the Serbs. Same as the national museum, from time to time there are some minor expositions in a gallery or two.

The most interesting working museums in Belgrade

Ethnographic museum

Located on the Students’ square, the ethnographic museum can give you a feel of what the homes looked like until the past century, the clothes people wore, the toys they played with, and many more. There you can meet Serbian ethnic culture and tradition, maybe hear some interesting Serb and Slavic myths, and other interesting stuff from our past.

Military museum

Probably one of the best museums currently open in Belgrade, the Military museum is one of the most interesting for those searching for history. The outside collection of tanks, cannons, boats, trucks, etc. is free to visit and even climb on, while the entrance to the inner part costs about 200 dinars (2 euros). Once you enter, you’ll be taken by a walkway from the prehistoric Balkans to the NATO bombing of 1999, passing through Roman and Slavic times, medieval Serbia, the Turkish and Austrian era, modern Serbian history and Yugoslavia. You’ll be able to see weapons, clothes and equipment, models of boats, fortresses, interesting photos, illustrations, maps, info-graphics and texts about the military and with it the national history.

SANU (SASA) gallery

The gallery of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts usually has interesting exhibitions of Serbian art through the centuries and territories. Over the past few years there have been held exhibitions of findings from the prehistoric Vinča and Lepenski Vir cultures, Serbian paintings in Vojvodina, Serbian orthodox monastery – Hilandar

Konak Knjeginje Ljubice (Princess Ljubica’S palace)

In Ljubica’s palace you can see how the Serbian royalty lived in the 19th. century. There’s even a special program called “Having a coffee with the princess”, when the palace guide, dressed as princess Ljubica invites you for a traditional cup of coffee the way the real princess would have done two centuries ago.

Museum of Yugoslav History (aka 25th May, aka Tito’s Mausoleum)

This is also an important museum in Belgrade, though it’s a bit further from the city center. Many fans of the Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz – Tito come every year to his mausoleum to pay him a tribute and hang out. Besides of being a museum of Tito showing the gifts this leader got from leaders of all the world and the celebrities of his time and his impressive collection of cars, it also hosts collections from the past of Yugoslavia and all the countries that formed it from the Roman times up to today.

Kula Nebojša (Nebojša tower)

Nebojsa Tower is a newly adapted exhibition space built in the only remaining well preserved medieval building within the Belgrade Fortress. It was built around 1460 and belongs to the oldest type of early artillery canon towers. It is a unique museum of the history of Belgrade with multimedia installations about medieval Belgrade, the Turkish era, the rising of modern Serbia, and about Rigas Feraios, a Greek revolutionary and poet who was imprisoned and killed in this tower.

Nebojša tower official presentation

Some other museums in Belgrade worth visiting

Nikola Tesla museum

Nikola Tesla was a world renowned genius whose inventions were way ahead of his time. Many of them even today inspire scientists all over the world, and can’t be achieved even with the cutting-edge technology. His museum in Belgrade holds some of his patents and models, numerous plans, letters and photos of Tesla and his inventions. If you have got enough time this is a must see museum.

Aeronautical museum

They say it’s one of the top 5 aeronautical museums in Europe. One thing is sure: some four hundred aircraft from the dawn of aviation to the latest aeronautical technology can be seen in this impressive museum on the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Probably the best time to see it (since it’s a bit far from downtown) would be when departing from Belgrade to arrive at the airport an hour or two earlier, go to check-in and leave your baggage and then head to the museum.

Museum of contemporary art

One of Belgrade’s most cosmopolitan museums, it is home to numerous masterpieces of contemporary art of both local and world-famous artists. It also has an impressive collection of sculptures around the museum. I’m not really sure if it’s currently open.

Zepter museum

Serbia’s first private museum is an institution that holds numerous masterpieces of Serbian modern and contemporary artists. The museum was opened recently so it’s not as well-known among the local population as it should be. It is located in the central Knez Mihailova street, across the street from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (mentioned above), near Belgrade’s Instituto Cervantes.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, that’s all for now. I really hope the list will be expanded soon to include some other interesting yet currently closed museums and galleries.

Off course there are other museums in Belgrade, though I think they’re less attractive for foreign travelers being more thematic such as the Automobile museum, Museum of Science and Technology, Museum of Naive Arts, Museum of Applied Arts, Olympic museum, Nature museum (has a small gallery in Kalemegdan.), Pedagogical museum, Gallery of Frescoes, etc. If you happen to be interested in some of these, feel free to ask me and I’ll do my best to find some additional info about them for you.

• Austria: Vienna (Fly Nikki)
• Belgium: Brussels (Wizz Air)
• Denmark: Copenhagen (Norwegian)
• Germany: Dortmund, Munich (Wizz Air)
• Holland: Eindhoven (Wizz Air)
• Italy: Rome (Wizz Air)
• Latvia: Riga (Air Baltic)
• Norway: Oslo (Norwegian)
• Spain: Barcelona (Spanair)
• Sweden: Stockholm (Wizz Air, Norwegian), Gothenburg, Malmo (Wizz)
• United Kingdom: London (Wizz Air)

Note: You can also fly low cost to Timisoara (Romania) or Budapest (Hungary), and then take a van or bus to Belgrade. It’s a 3-4 hours journey and there are services that can be booked to pick you up at the airport.

If you know of another “low cost” carrier that operates to Belgrade, please notify me so I can update this list.

You can get more info at Belgrade airport official website.

With over 900,000 visitors in five days, Belgrade Beer Fest™ has grown into one of the most recognizable events that Serbia’s capital city has to offer. This year festival’s motto is “Fun for All”, emphasizing the fact that Belgrade Beer Fest is open to all visitors, both domestic and foreign, and that Belgrade is the city whose hospitality and clemency are known throughout Europe and beyond.

The festival also propagates reconciliation in the region and they want their visitors to socialize, get to know each other and have fun remembering the great picture from the festival, which is certainly one of the greatest values Belgrade Beer Fest is achieving, both for Belgrade and Serbia. This year, according the information from tourism fairs across the Europe, where Tourist Organization of Belgrade and National Tourism Organization of Serbia promote the festival, BBF is expecting a record number of foreign visitors and visitors in general, and we hope that in five hot August nights a million fans of great fun will visit the Beer festival in Belgrade!

Who?

This year the audience can expect an even better music program, where among other headliners they’ll have the opportunity to see famous Scottish band ‘Simple Minds’, and Marky Ramone, former drummer of the cult band ‘The Ramones’, performing with his band ‘Marky Ramones Blitzkrieg’.

Besides the headliners and the regional artists, musicians from the US, UK, Switzerland, Germany and Italy will perform at this year’s Beer Fest.

Where?

For the last few years, the festival is being held in the Ušće park in New Belgrade, below the Ušće tower, right across the Sava river from the original place on Lower Kalemegdan, where it all started.

View Belgrade Your Way in a larger map

Official website [English]: Belgrade Beer Fest

A good way to see Belgrade is by tram. There’s the famous line 2, which circles around the city center, and the “Tram called Belgrade” reserved for tours, with audio guide, etc. The first one is part of the regular transportation system and costs about 50 dinars, while the second one is free but you got to book it in advance. They have pretty much the same route.

You should have in mind that there’s currently two types of trams in Belgrade, and the third (Spanish) are on their way and should be on the rails by November. However, they’re all in the same system.

The line 2.

The best place to take it (the direction doesn’t matter) is the entrance to Kalemegdan from Knez Mihalova. It passes beside Kalemegdan, the Belgrade Port, under the Branko bridge, by the Old Belgrade Train Station, through Nemanjina Street, Slavija, one of the busiest squares in the city, through Beogradska to Bulevar, by the technical faculties and the park of ST. Cyril and Methodius, and down to the Inex tower (one of the tallest in the city, with a nice square in front), through Kraljice Marije to Skararlija market, and then through Dorćol, the oldest part of Belgrade. By the end (or beginning if you choose the other direction) of the circuit is the oldest house in Belgrade, just before climbing beside Kalemegdan again to the station you entered in at the end of Knez Mihailova.

Off course, you can get out at any other station if you wish.

Where to go from other stations?

If you choose to get out at the port, there’s at least 3 options for you. You could go to Beton Hala, a place on the riverfront with numerous cafes and restaurants, or to Dorćol’s Danube quay. You could also go to Branko’s bridge and then to Zeleni venac and into the city center, or go through the Savamala borough to the Train Station. You could also choose one of the stairs leading to Kosančićev Venac.

If you choose to go to the main Train Station, you could take a walk through Balkanska and Kraljice Natalije streets, ending up on Terazije or Zeleni Venac (depending on which one you choose).

If you choose to get out at Slavija, I’d recommend you to go to the nearby St. Sava temple, because it’s one of the must see landmarks in Belgrade, the third largest orthodox church in the world.

After Slavija, a good place to get out of the tram is the park of St. Cyril and Methodius, and then take a long walk up or down the Bulevar (going down would take you by the technical faculties, beside the Tašmajdan park and to the national Parliament, city Council and the central Nikola Pašić square). Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra (it’s complete name) is the longest street in the city stretching over 7km, leading to the eastern suburbs.

If you exit at the Skadarlija Market, you could climb the Skadarlija street to get to the central Republic Square. Maybe even stop at some of the traditional restaurants in this street for lunch or dinner, depending of the time. If you come here during the day, you should enter the market and find some fresh and natural fruits and vegetables brought from the villages of Serbia.

If you exit anywhere on Dorćol, you could climb one street up to the Strahinića Bana street, also known as the Silicon Valley of Belgrade, mainly because of the “silicon” girls and the high style cafe’s. After a rest at some of these cafes you could continue your tour on foot through upper Dorćol to the center.

Here’s a preview of what you can see from Belgrade’s no. 2 tram line. Enjoy.

Other Belgrade tram lines

Beside the circular line 2, there are other “linear” lines:

3. From Tašmajdan park to Kneževac (suburban)

5. From Belgrade Zoo (below Kalemegdan, Dorćol) to Konjarnik

6. From Tašmajdan park to Konjarnik

7. From New Belgrade to Konjarnik

9. From New Belgrade to Banjica

10. From Belgrade Zoo (below Kalemegdan, Dorćol) to Banjica

11. From Belgrade Zoo (below Kalemegdan, Dorćol) to New Belgrade

12. From Omladinski stadium to Banovo Brdo (stopping by Ada)

13. From Belgrade Zoo (below Kalemegdan, Dorćol) to Banovo Brdo (stopping by Ada)

14. From Konjarnik to Banjica

Riding a tram in Belgrade is a unique experience and I personally prefer it to the buses and trolleys. They’re generally more comfortable and less crowded.

MIKSER is a multidisciplinary, multicultural platform that aims to affirm the cultural industry of the region and organize the largest regional festival of creativity.

About Mikser festival

The festival provides a practical platform for interaction between designers, architects, artists, manufactures, companies, independent organizations, governmental institutions and media.

In just two years Mikser festival established itself as the biggest regional festival of creativity with strong emphasis on multidisciplinary and multicultural approach.

Location

Mikser festival takes place at the granary of Žitomlin, a breathtaking industrial complex on the Danube waterfront, only 700 m from the heart of Belgrade.

See more info on how to get here (with a map) below.

The timeframe

Mikser festival takes place in the last week of May, and this year it lasts for 5 days, from 25 to 29th. It starts on May 25 at 16:00 and ends on May 30th at about 1:30 AM.

You can take a look at the program here.

Mikser festival in numbers

Mikser showcases executed projects and initiatives by more than 1.000 participants. In 2010 around 40.000 visitors and 420 registered journalists attended Mikser festival.

Getting there