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We spent a month living in the city center of Belgrade, Serbia. From our experiences there, we’re excited to share some of our favorite things to do in Belgrade.
If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you may know that we’re a full-time, slow travel family with two young girls. Therefore, some of our recommendations are, especially for the little ones. However, many of the Belgrade tourist attractions we’ve listed can be enjoyed by all ages.
Even with our slow-travel approach, we don’t always get to see everything on offer every place we go! Therefore, we’ve included additional recommendations at the bottom of the post. We didn’t get to see them ourselves, but would certainly aim to visit if we go back for some more Belgrade sightseeing.
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What are the best things to do in Belgrade Serbia?
If you’re wondering what to do in Belgrade, there will be plenty to keep you busy and entertained. There are also some lovely green spaces around the city where you can just chill out, and not do too much if you choose! Here are some of our best suggestions for what to see in Belgrade. We hope they’re helpful for you when planning your trip there.
Explore the Belgrade Fortress
The Belgrade fortress is part of a large green expanse in the city (Kalemegdan Park). Rich in history, you could easily spend a few hours or more wandering the grounds and taking in all that this place has to offer. In our opinion, it’s one of the top must see Belgrade attractions.
Perched on the hillside there are wonderful views over the Sava and Danube rivers, including the point where they meet.
There are trails to walk along, and several museums, cafes, restaurants, and the zoo nearby. You can visit Ružica church, the Serbian Orthodox Church located in the fortress grounds. Also, check out the selection of tanks – a reminder of less peaceful times.
It’s absolutely free to wander the grounds around the Kalemegdan fortress. If you want to explore deeper you can also purchase tickets for various features of the fortress, These include the military museum, clock tower, roman well, military bunker, and medieval torture instruments?. We’d highly recommend adding the Belgrade fortress to your itinerary for things to do in Belgrade.
Visit the Jevremovac Botanical Gardens
The Jevremovac botanical garden is a lovely slice of nature in Belgrade’s central city. It’s a relatively small garden so it’s an easy meander around the paths with kids.
There’s a big glasshouse with a nice selection of tropical plants. At one end of the greenhouse, hot and cold drinks are available to purchase.
Kids will also enjoy the little tree stump play area. Here they can jump from stump to stump and walk along a few logs. It’s very small, but my littles happily went around and around many times.
The Japanese garden is perhaps the best feature. There are a few little hills to run up and down, as well as rocks and water to play around.
There are several big, spectacular botanical gardens around the world, which are free to enter. However, like the one we visited in Laos, I don’t believe this one has had much state funding so there’s a small charge to enter (300 dinars per adult). I’m sure the small fee makes a big difference to how the gardens will continue to be developed. If you’re wondering what to do in Belgrade with kids, or just want a break from the city within the city, then we’d recommend checking it out.
Park Prijateljstva
Central Belgrade offers plenty of great parks and playgrounds. Look up ‘Park Prijateljstva’ on Google maps for a vast green expanse near the city, with plenty to do.
One of the fun features is the mini roadways. Here the kids can ride their bikes and scooters and learn about traffic. The park also has a playground, fitness area, skate park, and plenty of walking paths. You could also visit the museum of contemporary art or pop into the Usce mall while you’re there.
The park is next to the river, which offers some nice views. If you walk across the bridge you’ll find another fab little playground. There is also a riverside path for bikes and scooters, and plenty of restaurants and cafes. The whole area is one of the nice places to visit in Belgrade if you want to get out and enjoy the green spaces in the city.
Pionir Ice Hall
If you’re looking for fun things to do in Belgrade Serbia, Pionir Ice Hall is a fun place for kids and adults alike. They have open sessions on weekday evenings from 6-8pm. There are three sessions available on Saturdays and Sundays.
I think we paid about 600 dinar for a family ticket. This could have included Colin, but he opted to watch ?. Skate hire is 300 each and the ride on animals are 500.
They have little double-blade skates that can go over shoes for very little people, so Romy got to have her first try at skating! I’m glad we got the ride on animal too though, as she was due for a sleep so didn’t want to skate too long. Instead, she just zoned out and let Ayla push her around!
There is also a cafe above the ice rink, where you can grab a bite and drink and watch the skaters below, or refuel after your skating session.
Rajiceva Indoor Playground
If you’re after Belgrade things to do with kids on a rainy day, visit an indoor playground. There’s a great little one on the top floor of the Rajicevac shopping center in Central Belgrade. Like most (if not all) of the indoor playgrounds we are finding in this part of the world, it’s fine to drop your kids and run if you want to!
Usually, this is OK for about three years and up. Sometimes it’s OK with younger kids. It depends on the staff, facility, how busy they are, and if they’ve been getting to know you a bit.
Entry is 300 per kid per hour (about $3), or 400 for two hours, or 500 for the full day. If you opt for the latter you could pop away for some lunch. Then bring them back for the afternoon and evening if you wanted to!
There’s a cafe on-site too so you can sit and have a cuppa or maybe even get some work done while they play. The kids can also sit at tables and do some sort of quiet activity if they get tired of playing.
Try a triple park and playground whammy!
For a few hours of park and playground fun in Belgrade, first head to Tasmajdan Park near the city center. It’s a big green space with a few play areas. There’s a tram stop there, and cafes nearby.
Just across the road is Mali Tasmajdan, another park, and playground. It’s basically an extension of the main park.
Across the road from the main park (in the North-East direction) is another fab park and playground called Pionirski Park.
If you’re feeling inclined, you can check out all three, one after the other! It makes for a good plan of things to see in Belgrade that are close to one another, especially if you like hanging out in green spaces in the city. These parks are also great options for the littles to have fun and burn up some energy.
The museum of science and technology
If you’re looking for things to do in Belgrade in the winter, you can’t go past one of the great museums there. The museum of science and technology is an interactive kid-friendly museum in Central Belgrade. It’s also fun for grownups!
The kids will be intrigued by all the old machines that were once a part of everyday life. From early washing machines, TV’s and computers to boating gear, cars, and even a dentist’s clinic there is plenty to look at and learn about.
Downstairs is a fully interactive science play and learning area. From pulleys to puzzles, and illusions to inertia there is plenty to discover and keep the whole family entertained for a couple of hours.
An outdoor and indoor play combo
If you’re looking for things to do in Belgrade with kids, check out Topčiderska Zvezda Park and Hajd Park. They’re right next to each other, in a lovely green area of the city (about 10 minutes drive from the center). You can stroll around the leafy green (and snowy white as it may be in the winter!) parks and enjoy nature.
When they’ve had enough, head down the road to Okean. It’s a nice little indoor playground that will help them to have fun and burn off some energy. You can sit right outside and enjoy watching them play while you have a cuppa. Or, of course, you can join in the fun! Meals are also available.
Muzej Cokolade (The chocolate museum)
The chocolate museum (Muzej cokolade) was one of my favorite places to visit in Central Belgrade. To say I’m a fan of chocolate is a massive understatement. And although I normally opt for around 80% cacao, the lovely sweet treats we got to try on our visit here were just divine.
The Chocolate Museum is a tiny museum with just four little rooms. However, there is much to be learned about chocolate, so we easily spent an hour here. As part of the entry fee we paid (600 for me and 400 for Ayla), we had an informative and friendly tour guide explain everything to us.
In the museum, you’ll learn about the process to produce chocolate and about different types of chocolate. There are original chocolate packets and tins from when it first started getting produced and you can see a replica of the first chocolate cake. You can even sit on a bike that was used to grind cacao beans during WWII when there was no electricity.
Make your own chocolate if you wish!
The chocolate museum is super interesting, as well as delicious! You can also purchase a ticket to make your own chocolate if you wish. We saw the large array of sugary toppings that you can layer into your chocolate creation if you like.
Have you ever tried Ruby chocolate? I had never heard of it before but we tried it here. It’s very sweet and is apparently a “new” and trendy type of chocolate. (Haha, that’s probably why I don’t know about it). The pink color is natural, it’s just a different method of processing the chocolate.
Whilst I’m now back to my 80% chocolate the museum was a very educational and enjoyable place to visit. When you’re done, the Belgrade fortress is just across the road so you can have a play at one of the playgrounds there or take a scenic walk if you’d like to.
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Other things to do in Belgrade, Serbia
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, we never get to see absolutely everything in the places we visit! Here are some further suggestions for things to do in Belgrade, many of which we would prioritize ourselves if we visit again.
- Ada Ciganlija is a popular summer recreational destination on the Sava river in Belgrade. We love nature and the outdoors and really wanted to visit. However, we were there in December and we were really adjusting to the cold after warmer climates! This would be the first place we’d visit next time if we went at a slightly warmer time of year
- The Nikola Tesla Museum is another science museum we would have liked to visit. It has great reviews and we’ll for sure visit if we go to Belgrade again!
- Take a day trip to Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia. It’s only just over an hour to drive between the two.
- Visit the National Museum. We did intend to go there while we were in Belgrade, but didn’t quite get to visit everywhere we wanted to. (The Chocolate museum won in the museum choices for our family!).
- Check out the highly-rated National Theatre
- Visit the temple of Saint Sava, a Serbian Othodox church
- If you want to go shopping in Belgrade, the best place to go is the pedestrianized area along Knez Mihailova Street, along to Republic Square
Further Reading about nearby European destinations
So if you’ve been wondering “What are the best places to visit in Belgrade Serbia?”, hopefully, you’ve got some great ideas for your itinerary now! We visited Belgrade after spending three months in Tirana. Previous to that, we were in rural France for seven months.
Soon we’ll be sharing some more of our favorite things to do in Serbia, outside of Belgrade city, so stay tuned! Please feel free to join the conversation and leave a comment below.
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