A photograph of Belgrade

City guide · Serbia

Theme: History in Belgrade, Serbia

Belgrade is 389.12 km² holding 1,197,714 people, and it stands on the point where the Sava runs into the Danube. That confluence is why the city exists and why...

Photograph · Vladimir Nolic · CC BY-SA 4.0

1,818 Places
10 Districts
Suggested stay
2–3 days
Getting around
Tram, bus and on foot

Turn this list into a plan

Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.

Plan Belgrade

Editorial responsibility: Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Belgrade is 389.12 km² holding 1,197,714 people, and it stands on the point where the Sava runs into the Danube.

That confluence is why the city exists and why it has been fought over so relentlessly: it has been battled over in 115 wars and razed 44 times. The name Beograd means white city.

The administrative area holds 1,682,720 people across 3,234.96 km² in 17 municipalities. The part a visitor uses is a fraction of that — the old town on the ridge above the rivers, and the streets running down from it.

Checked 2026-08-23

Practical information

Language spoken
Serbian
Written in both Cyrillic and Latin; English is understood in tourist districts
Dialling code
+381 11
Belgrade landlines; drop the leading 0 of 011 when calling from abroad
Currency
Serbian dinar (RSD)
Euros are not accepted; cards are widely taken in Belgrade
Emergency number
112
One number across the country; 194 reaches an ambulance directly
Plug type
Type C and F · 230 V
Standard European two-pin
Tap water
Not recorded
No verified national source in the dataset

Planning a visit

November · November averages 11.2°C by day in Belgrade, with five frost days and three days of snow cover.

  1. January: viable with meaningful trade-offs
  2. February: viable with meaningful trade-offs
  3. March: good time to visit
  4. April: best time to visit
  5. May: best time to visit
  6. June: good time to visit
  7. July: viable with meaningful trade-offs
  8. August: viable with meaningful trade-offs
  9. September: best time to visit
  10. October: best time to visit
  11. November: good time to visit — current month
  12. December: viable with meaningful trade-offs

Sources

Top things to see

Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.

  1. Church of Saint Sava Church of Saint Sava
    02 1 hour

    Church of Saint Sava

    Храм Светог Саве

    The Church of Saint Sava stands where an Ottoman general burned a saint's bones, and it took eighty-five years to build.

    • Must see
    • Place of worship
    • Vračar
  2. National Museum of Serbia National Museum of Serbia
    03 2 hr 30 min

    National Museum of Serbia

    Народни музеј Србије

    The National Museum is the oldest and largest museum in Serbia, and it was shut for fifteen years. It was founded on 10 May 1844.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  3. Nikola Tesla Museum Nikola Tesla Museum
    04 1 hour

    Nikola Tesla Museum

    Музеј Николе Тесле

    Nikola Tesla Museum is a memorial and science museum at Krunska 51 in Belgrade’s Vračar district, occupying a villa where Tesla’s archive and personal legacy are preserved.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Vračar
  4. Museum of Yugoslav History Museum of Yugoslav History
    05 2 hours

    Museum of Yugoslav History

    Музеј Југославије

    Museum of Yugoslav History is the former name of a Dedinje complex now officially called the Museum of Yugoslavia.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Savski Venac
  5. House of Flowers House of Flowers
    06 1 hr 30 min

    House of Flowers

    Кућа цвећа

    The House of Flowers is Tito's grave, and it was built as a greenhouse.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Savski Venac
  6. Gardoš Tower Gardoš Tower
    07 30 min

    Gardoš Tower

    Кула Гардош

    Gardoš Tower, also called the Millennium Tower and Kula Sibinjanin Janka, rises 36 metres above Gardoš Hill in Zemun.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Zemun
  7. St. Mark's Church St. Mark's Church
    08 30 min

    St. Mark's Church

    Црква Светог Марка

    St. Mark's Church is a Serbian Orthodox church on Tašmajdan hill in central Belgrade, built between 1931 and 1940 to designs by the brothers Petar and Branko Krstić, both professors at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture.

    • Must see
    • Place of worship
    • Palilula
  8. Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art
    09 2 hours

    Museum of Contemporary Art

    Музеј савремене уметности

    The Museum of Contemporary Art occupies a distinctive faceted building in Ušće park, New Belgrade, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • New Belgrade
  9. Belgrade Military Museum Belgrade Military Museum
    10 1 hr 30 min

    Belgrade Military Museum

    Војни музеј

    Belgrade Military Museum occupies a distinctive building on the upper terrace of Kalemegdan, within the Belgrade Fortress grounds. Its setting is part of the experience: the museum combines indoor historical galleries with heavy weapons displayed outside around the building.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  10. Ethnographic Museum Ethnographic Museum
    11 1 hr 30 min

    Ethnographic Museum

    Етнографски музеј

    Belgrade’s Ethnographic Museum is a focused introduction to everyday culture in Serbia and the wider South Slavic world.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  11. Princess Ljubica's Residence Princess Ljubica's Residence
    12 1 hour

    Princess Ljubica's Residence

    Конак кнегиње Љубице

    Princess Ljubica’s Residence is an 1830 house commissioned as a representative court for the Obrenović dynasty. Hadži Nikola Živković, Prince Miloš Obrenović’s official builder, designed and supervised its construction.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  12. Museum of African Art Museum of African Art
    13 1 hour

    Museum of African Art

    Музеј афричке уметности

    The Museum of African Art occupies a villa at Andre Nikolića 14 in Senjak, on Topčider Hill, and is devoted entirely to African cultures and arts.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Savski Venac
  13. Pobednik Pobednik
    14 15 min

    Pobednik

    Победник

    Pobednik, usually translated as the Victor, is a bronze monument by sculptor Ivan Meštrović on the Upper Town ridge of Belgrade Fortress, above the confluence of the Sava and Danube.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Stari Grad
  14. Residence of Prince Miloš Residence of Prince Miloš
    15 45 min

    Residence of Prince Miloš

    Конак кнеза Милоша Обреновића

    The Residence of Prince Miloš was built between 1830 and 1834 for Miloš Obrenović, the prince who led Serbia's second uprising against Ottoman rule and secured its autonomy, and it is one of the few surviving buildings from that transitional…

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Savski Venac
  15. St. Michael's Cathedral St. Michael's Cathedral
    16 20 min

    St. Michael's Cathedral

    Саборни храм Светог архангела Михаила

    St. Michael's Cathedral is the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Belgrade, built between 1837 and 1845 on the site of an earlier church destroyed in the Ottoman era.

    • Must see
    • Place of worship
    • Stari Grad
  16. Historical Museum of Serbia Historical Museum of Serbia
    17 1 hour

    Historical Museum of Serbia

    Историјски музеј Србије

    The Historical Museum of Serbia (Istorijski muzej Srbije) was established in 1963 as the national institution charged with collecting material on Serbian history from the medieval state through the twentieth century, distinct from the archaeology-focused National Museum next to Republic…

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  17. Museum of Applied Arts Museum of Applied Arts
    18 1 hr 30 min

    Museum of Applied Arts

    Музеј примењене уметности

    The Museum of Applied Art on Vuka Karadžića street holds over 37,000 objects spanning 2,400 years of applied art, founded on 6 November 1950. Its oldest pieces are Ancient Greek coins from the fourth century BC.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  18. Belgrade City Museum Belgrade City Museum
    19 2 hours

    Belgrade City Museum

    Музеј града Београда

    The Belgrade City Museum (Muzej grada Beograda) was founded in 1903, when the city assembly voted to build a collection documenting Belgrade itself rather than the wider Serbian state.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Savski Venac
  19. Museum of Vuk and Dositej Museum of Vuk and Dositej
    20 45 min

    Museum of Vuk and Dositej

    Музеј Вука и Доситеја

    The Museum of Vuk and Dositej is a single-house museum in the Stari Grad district of Belgrade dedicated to two figures of the Serbian Enlightenment: Dositej Obradović (1742–1811), writer and Serbia's first Minister of Education, and Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864)…

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  20. Museum of Ivo Andrić Museum of Ivo Andrić
    21 1 hr 30 min

    Museum of Ivo Andrić

    Музеј Иве Андрића

    The Museum of Ivo Andrić is a memorial museum in Belgrade dedicated to Ivo Andrić, the writer and Nobel Prize laureate whose work is central to Yugoslav and Serbian literary memory.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Stari Grad
  21. Monument of Gratitude to France Monument of Gratitude to France
    22 10 min

    Monument of Gratitude to France

    Споменик захвалности Француској

    Twenty thousand people filled Kalemegdan Park on 11 November 1930 to watch King Alexander I, Queen Maria, Prince Paul and Princess Olga unveil a bronze woman striding forward with one arm raised — Belgrade's Monument of Gratitude to France, dedicated…

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Stari Grad
  22. Royal Palace Royal Palace
    23 1 hr 30 min

    Royal Palace

    Краљевски двор

    The Royal Palace was built between 1912 and 1929 in Dedinje for King Alexander I Karađorđević, its construction interrupted by the Balkan Wars and the First World War and finished only after Alexander proclaimed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Savski Venac
  23. Ruins of the National Library of Serbia
    24 15 min

    Ruins of the National Library of Serbia

    Рушевине Народне библиотеке из нацистичког бомбардовања 1941.

    The ruins on Kosančićev Venac are the remains of the building that housed the National Library of Serbia from 1925. The house was built in the second half of the 19th century.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Stari Grad
  24. Singidunum Singidunum
    25 30 min

    Singidunum

    Антички Сингидунум

    Singidunum is the Roman name for the fortified settlement that stood on the ridge now occupied by Belgrade Fortress, at the point where the Sava River meets the Danube.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Stari Grad

Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·

Where to base yourself

District boundaries come from OSM administrative relations, so a district page holds exactly the places inside it — plus, for the islands and the coast, the nearest district by proximity.

How the city is laid out

Two Belgrades, split by the Sava.

Old Belgrade sits on the ridge on the right bank, above the confluence. The fortress is at the point; Stari Grad, the old town, runs back from it; Vračar rises behind that with the Church of Saint Sava on top; Dorćol drops north towards the Danube and Savamala south towards the Sava.

New Belgrade is on the left bank of the Sava, built from 1948 onward on empty ground to demonstrate that Yugoslavia was at the forefront of progress. It is towers and boulevards on a grid and it is a different city.

Zemun, further up the Danube on the left bank, was a separate town under Austria-Hungary until the twentieth century and still reads as one — low houses, a hill with a tower, and the border of an empire running through it.

Checked 2026-08-23

Getting around

Trams, buses, trolleybuses and walking. There is no metro.

A metro has been discussed for decades and is not in operation; anyone reading about the Belgrade metro is reading about a construction programme, not a way to get across the city today.

The old town is compact and the walk from the fortress to the Church of Saint Sava takes about half an hour, all of it through the parts a visitor came for. New Belgrade and Zemun need transport.

Taxis are cheap by western European standards and are the usual way across the river at night.

Checked 2026-08-23

More city guides

Common questions

How many days does Belgrade need?

Suggested stay for a first visit: 2–3 days. Two cover the fortress, Kalemegdan, the old town and the Church of Saint Sava. A third adds Zemun on the Danube and a look at New Belgrade.

Is there a metro?

No. Belgrade runs trams, buses and trolleybuses, and a metro has been discussed for decades without entering service. The old town is walkable and taxis are cheap.

What does Beograd mean?

White city. The name is literal.

Why is the city so scarred?

It stands where the Sava meets the Danube, which made it the frontier between empires. It has been fought over in 115 wars and razed 44 times.

What is the difference between Old and New Belgrade?

The Sava. Old Belgrade is the ridge above the confluence with the fortress at its point. New Belgrade is on the left bank, built from 1948 on empty ground as a demonstration of Yugoslav modernity.

Which districts should I stay in?

Stari Grad for the old town, Vračar behind it for a quieter residential base, Dorćol towards the Danube and Savamala on the Sava for the nightlife. Zemun is a separate town in feel and is further out.