Belgrade Favorites

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Favorite thing: A truly great guide through Belgrade and its contents!

Unlike typical maps, the Belgrade Witty Map brings a unique combination of Belgrade city map and a guide to the best places in town and events not to be missed. It is this mixture of elements that gives a completely new touch to the map, providing quick and easy access to all relevant information for both visitors and locals.
Precise locations of restaurants, galleries, movie theaters, bars, clubs, caffes,...+comments.
List and locations of HOSTELS (and Hotels, ofcourse)
Short texts about Kalemegdan, Taverns, Floats, Skadarlija...and more.

Many, great illustrations + comments.

It covers City Center, Kalemegdan, Zemun Center, Ada Ciganlija Peninsula.

Perfect for making your sightseeing route but also as a souvenir.

Favorite thing: I love the Gypsy music of the Balkans. And while most Serbians seem to hate it, it has strong roots here too. Boban Markovic is the king of Belgradian gypsy music, having appeared with his band as the gypsy trumpeters that follow the two gangsters throughout Underground, a cult Serbian movie with great music orchestrated by Bosnian-Serb Goran Bregovic. Bregovic is also great, but he's more likely to be seen in the US than Serbia these days.

Gypsy bands play in some restaurants, at one or two clubs, or at the station when a young man is leaving to join the army. The best place to listen to it, however, is probably at the Guca festival, in a small village a few hours from Belgrade. This is held once a year and attracts the best gypsy bands from the entire region. It's a festival I intend to travel to one year very soon.

If you want to listen to Gypsy music of the region try:

Goran Bregovic (Bosnian Serb), especially the soundtracks to Underground and Black Cat/White Cat;
Boban Markovic (Serbian);
Kocani Orkestar (Macedonia);
Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania);
Taraf de Haidouk (Romania).

Also check out anything by German DJ Shantel and the Bucovina Club. He creates amazing dance floor remixes of Balkan music, and became so popular that his small Frankfurt club got world recognition and started a perpetual world tour. Last time I the show was on tour, they were supporting Borat of Ali G fame.

Favorite thing: There are almost 300 cultural monuments within the territory of Belgrade. Three spatial cultural-historical ensembles (Knez Mihajlova Street, Topčider and area around Dositej’s Boarding School and the archaeological finds Belo Brdo in Vinča have been proclaimed the values of extraordinary importance, and three spatial ensembles (Gročanski bazaar - Bulevar Oslobođenja, Kosančićev Venac, old nucleus of Zemun) and two remarkable locations (Bojčin’s Forest and Commemorative Cemetery of Belgrade Liberators 1806) of great importance for the culture. As for the facilities proclaimed natural treasures, the ones of major importance are: Belgrade Fortress, Saint Archangel Michael Cathedral Church, Thumb of the Unknown Soldier on Avala, Monument at the death spot of despot Stefan Lazarević, Cemetery of Belgrade Liberators, late Roman Tomb in Brestovik, Birth Home of Voivode Stepa Stepanović, Palace of the Duchess Ljubica, Captain Miša’s Edifice. The beauty of Belgrade squares and public gardens in ten town municipalities is supplemented by 192 monuments and 237 sculptures. About 70 monuments and works of sculpture are located in the outlaying municipalities.
Among the protected natural values there also are Banjica’s Forest, the nestling spot of over 70 species of birds, "Maša’s Mine" near Summer Stage in Topčider (geological set layer from the upper Cretaous Age), "Myocene’s sand-shelf" at Tašmajdan and "Sea Neogene’s sandbank" underneath the “Liberator” Monument on Kalemegdan, representing the remnants of the Mediterranean basin of Pannonian Sea.
Memorial natural monuments are: Bojčin’s forest within the area of Zemun and the Arched Ash Tree in the Šopići village near Lazarevac (Šopići’s Grove). Veliko ratno ostrvo (Big War Island) on the Danube, the habitat of rare and endangered birds of marsh and the representative morphological and geological formation, is under the protection of the government.

Fondest memory: Calemegdan is the most beautiful and biggest park in Belgrade, which is also the most important cultural and historical complex, in which the Belgrade Fortress stands high above the Sava and Danube confluence.

Favorite thing: There are spots in Belgrade you must definitely see and feel. Streets, squares, monuments, parks, drinking fountains, archeological sites... and other sights that deserve recommendation. Many of them have been given the status of cultural assets.

Fondest memory: Terazije is the most famous square in Belgrade. It started to take shape as an urban feature in the first half of the XIX century. Ilija Čarapić who for a certain period was the president of the Belgrade Municipality, had a special task to assigning lots of land at Terazije to these craftsmen; whoever accepted to fence the lot, would have it for free.
Up to about 1865, the buildings at Terazije were mainly single and double-storied ones. The water tower was removed in 1860 and replaced by the drinking-fountain, Terazijska česma, which was erected in memory of Prince Miloš. During the first reconstruction of the square in 1911, the fountain was moved to Topčider and moved back again in 1976. This square went under significant changes in 1911-1912, when it was completely re-arranged. Along the central part of the square regular flower beds were placed, and they were surrounded by a low iron fence, while on the side towards today's Nušićeva Street a large fountain was built.
At the end of the XIX and beginning of the XX century, Terazije was the center of social life of Belgrade. The most important hotels, restaurants and shops were located here.
In 1936, on the foundations of the old hotel, the new "Balkan" Hotel was built. On the site of a small "Albania" cafe, a palace of the same name was constructed in 1938. Terazije acquired its definitive form during its last reconstruction in 1947, when its flower beds, fountain and tram-lines were all removed. In the memory of the five patriots hanged by German fascists at Terazije on August 17, 1941, a monument was erected in 1983 at the corner of Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra and Terazije.

Favorite thing: The main street in Belgrade, Knez Mihailova. It leeds from Kalemegdan park to Terazije, and there you can find EVERYTHING you'll ever need, all kinds of shops (especially branded ones, for the fans of brands), tourist info, cafes, libraries, cultural centres, etc...

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Favorite thing: This is a part of Belgrade which is located north of the river. Well people living there claim its not part of belgrade, but Ill put it on my belgrade page anyway.
I went there about 2 weeks ago, the weather wasnt too well but I got some nice shots anyway from a place called Gardos. it has a great view over Sava river.
It's not too far from town, but very different from the usual Belgrade arcitecture. Zemun used to be Austria- hungarian so therefore the architecture is influenced by that period, while Belgrade was turkish.

Favorite thing: This is the place where people meet in town. Its a statue of Knez Mihajlo, which is also name of the big pedestrian area in Belgrade.
The statue normally goes by the name Konj ( horse) and people meet kod konja( by the horse.

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Favorite thing: all the days and nights we've scrolled up and down knez mihailova , just feeling the atmosphere and looking at the people and all the stuff u can buy .. eat popcorn and ending up at kalemegdan standing at the edge looking over Novi Beograd and Zemun.