A photograph of Belgrade

City guide · Serbia

Belgrade

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

1,817 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

Reviewed by 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

September · September moderates to a 23.9°C mean high in Belgrade with 204 sunshine hours and 55.3 mm of rain.

  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 — current month
  10. October: best time to visit
  11. November: good time to visit
  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. Nikola Tesla Museum Nikola Tesla Museum
    03 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
  3. National Museum of Serbia National Museum of Serbia
    04 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
  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. Boat to the meeting of the Sava and the Danube Boat to the meeting of the Sava and the Danube
    06 1 hr 30 min

    Boat to the meeting of the Sava and the Danube

    Belgrade exists because of a corner of water. The Sava comes in from the west, the Danube runs down from the north, and the ridge where they meet has been fortified by everyone who has held it since the Celts.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Savski Venac

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

More places to explore in Belgrade

Common questions

How many days does Belgrade need?

Two to three. 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.