What to Drink, Eat, and See in Belgrade, Serbia

When we arrived in Belgrade, it felt like stepping into the land of giants. Serbia is home to some of the tallest people in the world. And the most attractive too. That’s a deadly combination – especially when they are your competition in a beer pong tournament. Nevertheless, our hearts still beat for Belgrade.

Much like the rest of the Balkan countries, we never intended to visit Serbia at all, but between the good craft brews, cheap eats, and spirited locals it quickly became one of our favorite destinations. Read on to see how we spent our three weeks in Belgrade.

Tours and Travels

Public Transport App

If you wish to get around with public transportation it is a must to download Eway. This handy app will let you select any location whether it’s just a spot on the map or typing in your desired location by name. Then it will list all options by bus, metro, tram, and even ferry to get you where you want to be.

Underground Tour

There are several walking tours to choose from while visiting Belgrade. We opted to join the Underground tour with Belgrade Walking Tours. This tour meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 3:00 pm in The Republic Square. The cost of the tour is €10. For your money, you’ll gain access to corridors, tunnels, and chambers situated beneath the city. The tour ends in a 19th century wine cellar, glass of Serbian wine in hand.

Abandoned Train Cars

This place was not the easiest to find and not found on any tourism site. The abandoned trains are a perfect spot for industrial, urban photos. We heard of this place when we first arrived to Belgrade but couldn’t find much information on it. Years ago, this used to be a bustling station with many tracks but there is only one track in use here now. The other tracks and the trains cars that sit on them have been left to be reclaimed by nature. When using your GPS head towards Restoran Kondir and you will find the tracks just behind it.

Car Museum

If you are a car enthusiast or a fan of the Grande Prix, there is a small car museum that houses some beautiful automotive history. For only 200 Serbian Dinars (less than 2 USD) you can spend time learning about the Grande Prix in Belgrade and drool over some old school craftsmanship.

Belgrade Fortress

A must visit on any trip to the city, the Belgrade Fortress is massive and boasts gorgeous panoramic views overlooking the Sava and Danube river. It is free to enter the fortress with just small fees to see things like Roman bunkers and climb to the top of ancient towers. You can also find concerts being held inside the walls. Before it was decided it was a terrible idea to do so, they used to host raves inside of the Austrian gunpowder warehouse that houses monuments dating back to the 1st century.

The best part? Hardly anyone was wandering the grounds while we were there. This would never happen in Western Europe as this type of attraction would be swarmed with other tourists.

Tip: If you plan on visiting any of the underground options within the fortress, we suggest taking the underground tour we mentioned instead of paying for everything separately.

Street Art

It won’t take long before you’re walking down the streets of Belgrade and notice the abundance of creative paint jobs. Like many visitors to the city, we couldn’t help but snap a few photos of the pieces that made us particularly happy.

Drinks Anyone?

Dogma Brewery

Dogma Brewery is in an old warehouse serving up a wide selection of craft brews and elevated pub fare consisting of burgers, kielbasa, and bbq pork ribs. This brewery has even done a collaboration with Flying Dog, a brewery from our home state of Maryland. While we were there, Dogma was hosting an international beer pong competition that we had the pleasure of participating in. While we didn’t win, it was fun hanging out with the (very tall) locals and drinking great beer.

Magic Garden

You can find this local haunt down an unmarked passage just off of Republic Square. It is so unmarked you may think to yourselves, “there is no way a bar is back here.” Just keep walking. There are no frills here – just cheap beer, shots, and some good rock and roll playing. This place will start to fill up later in the night and can become very smoky with the lack of ventilation. If the smoke might bother you, I would suggest checking it out earlier in the evening.

Druid

If you have had your fill of beer and begin to crave a well-made cocktail, this speakeasy style bar would be the place to check out. It was already after dark when we went to this place. We walked by the alley several times before we spotted the entrance. The sign is no more then a few inches in size. Upon entering we were asked if we had reservation. We didn’t, but luckily there were two empty stools at the bar. The cocktails took a few minutes to prepare but we relished the effort with each sip. Most notably, the bartender was friendly which isn’t always the case in this type of place. The music here is played on old vinyls, giving a hipster vibe to the atmosphere. For around $5 per cocktail you can have high-end drinks and service.

Drinks on the river

There is no shortage of places to drink or eat along the water here. We chose to have a drink at Beer Market Pub located just across the street from Dogma Brewery. It was a simple location for some cold beers and watching the crew teams race up and down the Sava river. We were there just in time to the watch the sun set over the Ada Bridge.

Courtyard of bars

Tucked away behind a high wall and a parking gate is a gathering of watering holes suited for any taste. Not sure how accurate it was but we were told at our hostel that the parking arm is there to keep tourists out so they just think it’s a parking lot. We ventured inside a few of the bars but returned several times to Berlin Monroe which can be found in the back right corner of the parking area. The craft beers were very good and it had a sitting room upstairs that was quite relaxing with its plush chairs, dark wood, and dim lighting.

To find the courtyard, plug in one of the nearby locations shown in the screenshot below. None of the bars show up on Google Maps, but they are located where the blue dot is! Good luck!

Rakia Bar

We stopped in here for a night cap one evening and I’m glad we did. This wasn’t our first time having rakia but it was the first time having rakia that wasn’t made in someone’s bathtub. There were just under 50 varieties to choose from on their list. The choices were between sweet, barrel-aged, or high-octane. Something for everyone’s palate. Megan got a barrel-aged one that, much to her delight, appeared with a piece of chocolate. Our friend went with a sweet rakia beautified by a few raspberries floating in her glass.

Food

Street food

We didn’t visit too many sit down restaurants while we were here but what we did have plenty of was street food. Pizza and sandwiches were our main food group for the three weeks we were here. Our favorite place to get sandwiches was called Скроз добра пекара. Yeah, we can’t pronounce that either, but the signs are recognizable once you see them on the street. So stop in and grab a bite. We got the pretzel bun with lettuce, tomato, local white cheese, and ham.

As for the pizza, it is on almost every corner. Good luck walking 500 meters without ooey, gooey, cheesy goodness temping you to grab another slice. We had so many we stopped counting. The question was less “what do you want for dinner?” and more “ham and mushroom or pepperoni?”

Another street food we couldn’t stop ourselves from gorging on were the burgers. Sounds simple, but they were far from your average hunk of meat. Cooked over the open flame right in front of our eyes, topped with fresh veggies all tucked into a fresh baked roll that had to be cradled with two hands. We can’t remember the name, but if you see a granny peddlin’ burgers, trust us – you want one.

Sweet tooth

During our stay here, it was Megan’s birthday so getting some cake was definitely on the agenda. There are a lot of bakers to choose from. There is the chain Хлеб и Кифле (I know, I know!) which comes highly recommended by locals but we went with a smaller place we stumbled upon in a trendy part of the city. Coffee Cake Bakery had an assortment of elegantly made cakes and pastries. We couldn’t choose just one, so we filled a box with three different types.

These cakes paired excellently with a selection of Serbian craft brews we picked up at the market.

Walking around the city one day, we stumbled upon Boni Torte & Kolaci. Here, you can find bite-sized sweets to satisfy any craving. We were already quite full from yet another slice of pizza but talked ourselves into stopping for a few treats.

Seafood Festival

There is a 4-day annual seafood festival that is a welcome break from the pizzas and the other gluten-filled meals. For just a few dollars you could get a whole bronzini or plate of sardines served with salad, bread, and red beans and rice. Make sure you leave some room for the rich seafood stew. If you go in the evening you can catch some live music and enjoy the night under the stars.

Final Thoughts on Belgrade

We absolutely loved our time in Belgrade and would recommended Serbia to any traveler. We could have stayed for so much longer if other countries weren’t already calling our names. Beyond the museums and bars that could’ve occupied us for weeks to come, the people we encountered in Belgrade were amazing! Seriously, we even had a pleasant exchange with a helpful employee at the post office. When in the States has that ever happened?

We hope our small list is able to help you along your journey. If there are any places that we should check out the next time we are in town be sure to share them with us in the comments!

And don’t forget, it’s always a wise idea to book your travel insurance before taking any vacation. We use World Nomads to cover our butts! Get your quote below.

Cheers friends,

Matt + Megan