Belgrade

The fortress is where Belgrade began, and its walls, gates and bastions record nearly every power that held the city, though most of what stands today is 18th-century Austrian and Ottoman work. Kalemegdan Park, laid out on the old firing ground in front of it, is the city's favourite place for an evening stroll. Walk through the Upper Town to the Pobednik (Victor), a bronze nude by Ivan Meštrović raised in 1928, which stares out over the confluence of the two rivers towards New Belgrade. The view from the ramparts at sunset is the classic Belgrade moment.

Within the walls you will also find the Military Museum, a ditch full of old tanks and guns, the small Ružica Church in the Lower Town with chandeliers made from spent cartridges and swords, and the Roman Well, which is not actually Roman. Entry to the park and most of the fortress grounds is free; the museum, towers and underground tours charge separately.

TipCome in the late afternoon, watch the sunset from the Pobednik terrace, then walk down to the Lower Town and the Nebojša Tower by the Danube as the lights come on across the river.

The city's main pedestrian street runs from the fortress gates to Republic Square, lined with 19th-century mansions built as Belgrade shed its Ottoman look and tried to resemble Vienna. Today it is a parade of shops, bookshops, ice-cream stalls and street musicians, busy from mid-morning to late at night. A short detour west brings you to the Cathedral Church of St Michael, the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and opposite it the Kafana "?", one of the oldest taverns in the city, which got its odd name in 1892 after the church objected to its previous one.

Republic Square, with its equestrian statue of Prince Mihailo Obrenović, is the usual meeting point for Belgraders ("by the horse"), and the National Theatre stands on one side. The National Museum of Serbia, the country's oldest, reopened in 2018 after a renovation that took some fifteen years. Its collection runs from the Neolithic figurines of Vinča and the strange fish-faced sculptures of Lepenski Vir through Roman silver and gold to medieval Serbian icons and frescoes, ending with Serbian painting and a strong selection of European art, including works by Renoir, Monet and Picasso.

TipThe museum is usually closed on Mondays; check the website for current hours and temporary exhibitions before you go.

This short, sloping cobbled lane, once home to Roma settlers and later to poets, painters and actors, is Belgrade's bohemian quarter, or at least its fond reconstruction of one. Old kafanas such as Tri šešira (Three Hats) and Dva jelena (Two Deer) serve grilled meats and plum brandy while strolling tamburica bands play at the tables. It is touristy, especially in the evening, but it is cheerful and the food is honest. The Bajloni market at the top of the street is a good, very local place for fruit, cheese and honey.

The inventor of alternating-current systems was an ethnic Serb born in what is now Croatia, and his personal archive, notes, drawings and belongings were brought to Belgrade after his death in New York. The museum is small, set in a villa on Krunska Street, but the guided tours are fun: guides demonstrate working models of his induction motor and fire up a Tesla coil, letting visitors hold fluorescent tubes that light up in their hands. The gilded sphere containing Tesla's ashes is displayed in the last room.

TipVisits are built around scheduled guided tours, which run in English several times a day and are often full in summer. Arrive early or book ahead through the museum's website.

On the Vračar plateau, on the spot where the Ottomans are said to have burned the relics of Saint Sava, founder of the Serbian church, in 1594, rises one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. Building began in 1935, was halted by war and communism, and resumed only in 1985; the exterior was completed in the 2000s, and the vast interior mosaic, centred on a dome image of Christ, was largely finished in 2020. The gold-covered crypt below, with its shimmering frescoes and mosaics, is the most dazzling part. Entry is free; dress modestly.

On a leafy hill in the Dedinje district, the former residence compound of Josip Broz Tito is now the city's most thought-provoking museum. The House of Flowers, Tito's winter garden, holds his white marble tomb and that of his wife Jovanka, alongside a display of the ornate relay batons that young people carried across Yugoslavia each year for his birthday. The neighbouring Museum of 25 May and the Old Museum hold exhibitions on Yugoslav history and the remarkable gifts presented to Tito by world leaders. It gives a vivid sense of the country that existed here until the wars of the 1990s.

TipBus or trolleybus to the stop near the stadium of Partizan, then walk up the hill. The museum usually opens Tuesday to Sunday; its website has occasionally shown it as closed, so check before setting out.

Between the fortress and the main bridges, Savamala was the city's first riverside commercial quarter in the 19th century, then a run-down area of warehouses, before artists and bars revived it in the 2010s. Much of the riverbank to the south has since been redeveloped as Belgrade Waterfront, a controversial project of glass apartment towers, a shopping mall and a riverside promenade where the old main railway station stood. The promenade along the Sava, continuing north under Branko's Bridge to the Beton Hala restaurant strip below the fortress, is a pleasant walk or cycle ride, with the best view of the old town ridge.

Zemun was a separate town and, until 1918, the southern frontier of the Habsburg empire, with Ottoman Belgrade just across the water; it still feels like a small Central European river town. Climb the lanes of the Gardoš hill to the brick Millennium Tower, built by the Hungarians in 1896 on the ruins of a medieval fortress to mark a thousand years of their state, for a sweeping view of the Danube and the Belgrade skyline. Then come down to the Zemun quay, lined with fish restaurants and cafés.

TipIt is a beautiful 6 km walk or ride along the Danube from Kalemegdan to Zemun via the Ušće park and the New Belgrade riverfront.

Belgrade's nightlife is famous across the Balkans, and much of it floats. Splavovi are raft clubs, restaurants and bars moored along the banks of the Sava and the Danube, especially on the New Belgrade side of the Sava and along the Zemun quay. In summer they range from quiet riverside cafés serving coffee by day to enormous clubs playing turbo-folk or electronic music until dawn. In winter many close or move indoors.

TipBig clubs rarely get going before midnight, and table reservations are often expected for groups. Dress codes and prices vary widely, so check social media pages before heading out.

A former river island on the Sava, joined to the bank by dams to create a long lake, Ada Ciganlija is the city's summer playground, nicknamed the "Belgrade sea". Several kilometres of pebble beaches are crowded on hot weekends, and there are paths for cycling and running all the way round, sports fields, a wakeboard cable and plenty of cafés and bars on the water. Bikes can be rented at the entrance.

Some 17 km south of the centre, the wooded hill of Avala is crowned by a slender telecommunications tower. The original, completed in 1965, was destroyed by NATO bombing in 1999; the rebuilt tower, a close copy, opened in 2010, and a lift takes visitors to an observation deck with views over the plain towards the city. Nearby stands Meštrović's Monument to the Unknown Hero, a severe black-granite mausoleum from 1938 guarded by figures in regional dress.

Serbia's second city, about 80 km north-west on the Danube, is an easy day trip by fast train. The vast Austrian fortress of Petrovaradin, built on a rocky bluff opposite the city between 1692 and 1780, has a famous clock tower whose hands are reversed, with the long hand showing the hours so that boatmen could read it from the river. Below its walls lie miles of military tunnels, which can be visited on a guided tour. Every July the fortress hosts the EXIT music festival. Across the bridge, the pedestrian centre around Liberty Square and Zmaj Jovina Street is relaxed and elegant, with a mix of Serbian, Hungarian and Habsburg architecture.

Only 12 km from Novi Sad, this little town was the spiritual and political centre of Serbs living in the Habsburg empire, and its main square is ringed by baroque churches, the Patriarchate palace and the old grammar school. It is set among the vineyards of the Fruška Gora hills, and local wineries pour bermet, a sweet aromatised wine said to have been taken aboard the Titanic. Combine it with Novi Sad in one long day, or continue into Fruška Gora National Park, dotted with Orthodox monasteries.

About 130 km east of Belgrade, where the Danube enters the gorges that separate Serbia from Romania, the medieval fortress of Golubac climbs from the water's edge up a cliff in a chain of towers. After a long restoration it reopened to visitors in 2019, with a visitor centre and paths to the upper towers. Beyond it, the road follows the river through Đerdap National Park and the Iron Gates gorge, one of the most dramatic stretches of the Danube, past the Mesolithic site of Lepenski Vir. This is a long day by car or organised tour; staying a night in the gorge makes it far more enjoyable.

TipSummer weekends are busy at Golubac, so arrive early, and check opening times on the official site before the long drive.