How much cost life in Belgrade

Belgrade and Serbia are one of the cheapest places in the Europe to travel and stay a while and experienced those special and unique spirit of them.

Serbia is the small Balkan country you’ve probably never heard of, but who has lot to offer to visitors. This is a country with beautiful mountains, spas, rivers and creeks, monasteries, cute towns you will love to visit once you see them in pictures. Special story is its jewel in the crown - the capital of the state -Belgrade

 

Beautiful Serbia

There are two main reasons for European tourist to visit Belgrade and Serbia:

1. it’s unbelievably beautiful and charming

2. it’s ridiculously affordable.

We will mention something about second reason

Accommodation

The average wage in Serbia is around 300 Euros a month. It is obvious that the accommodation costs can’t exceed that amount. For a decent one-bedroom apartment in center of Belgrade you should pay as much as 220 Euros a month. Outside of the center the prices of accommodation is even cheaper. The average monthly utilities would not exceed 80 Euros which includes electric, heating and water. The visitors can rent a private apartment for shorter or longer stay for  just of 20 euros per person per day. except that they are cheap these apartments are very comfortable, cozy and quiet

Belgrade at Night

Eating Out

In Serbia you will get for very cheap prices a lot of good food. Eating out is very affordable. Serbians love having “burek” and other products from bakery with yogurt for breakfast, which costs no more than 2 euro for both. Restaurants, taverns and bars are not only a local’s favorite place for socializing but are also very easy on the pocket. 

Grill in Serbia

A nice three course meal in an inexpensive restaurant will cost you 10-15 euro. For that price you will get salad, soup, bread, main meal with lot of meat and desert. A glass of wine is up to 2 euros, bottle of beer is 0,6 to 1,5 euro depending of place where you buy it.  Of course there are very expensive fancy restaurants but they are not for this text.

 

Full experience - try Serbian food

Transportation

Belgrade has several options of transportation means to choose from. One-way tickets in public transport usually cost around 0,8 euro. If you’re staying for a while a monthly pass costs around 25€.

Taxis in Serbia are also very affordable, for a 15-minute drive they will charge you no more than 8-10 Euros.  To rent a car you will pay from 20 to 30 euros depending of class of the car and length of lease.

You can even buy vehicle – used vehicle, depending how old is, can be 1200 to 1500 euros. The cost of running a car by European standards is fairly cheap, liter of gasoline is around 1 €.

 

Night Life in Belgrade

Social Life

People in Belgrade love to have long coffee breaks with friends. Price of coffee is 1 euro. They also love things like visit the cinema, which costs around 3 to 5 euros, or visit one of many theatres in Belgrade for little higher prices of 5 to 10 euros. Belgrade’s residents  know how to parting. The clubs and bars (splavovi)  are full every night and on Fridays and Saturdays it’s almost impossible to find a seat. If you want to experience the Belgrade’s nightlife you should budget around 10-20 euros per night. It worth  every penny, believe me.

Attraction and sights in Belgrade which have to be visited

Belgrade has many attractions and site sights which are not typically grouped in the center of the city. In this text we can mention some of them worth of visiting.

Belgrade Fortress - Kalemegdan is one of the largest preserved fortresses in Europe. Fortress was built by the Romans, and its present appearance is characterized by excellent appearance and preservation and fantastic views over the Sava and the Danube. In this complex are placed several museums and restaurants, fortress is surrounded by Kalemegdan Park, on of the largest parks in Belgrade

 

Kalemegdan

Apartments near Apartman Moskva

Pedestrian zone in the center of the city. Near the old fortress and park Kalemegdan is the pedestrian zone with very vivid and famous streets: Knez Mihajlova, King Milan Street, Terazije, Scadarlija with its famous tavernas, Cika Ljubina, Dorcol district, Republic Square,  with many old and famous buildings, numerous shops, cinemas, clubs, bars, bookstores, theatres (as National Theatre) and other interesting places.

Knez Mihajlova street

Apartments near Apartman Mond, Apartman Skver, Apartman Alas, Singidinum Studio, Singidinum Parlament

Promenades along the rivers 

Promenades are along Sava and Danube rivers, and are connected over bridges. The entire right bank of the Sava River from Ada to the confluence of the Sava and Danube continues along the Danube with a total length of over ten kilometers. A large number of bars and nightclubs are located on this route. At the left side of river Sava is Sava Quay, Novi Beograd. In contrast to the right bank of the Sava River (next to the old part of the city) where there is no interruption in pedestrian track in New Belgrade there are two separate quay - smaller, across from Ada, and far greater, which passes under the bridges on the Sava and is connected with the Danube quay in Zemun. The other half is perhaps the most beautiful part of Belgrade, with a handful of clubs and restaurants, and all along the road stretches bike path. People walk, ride bicycles, skates etc

Apartments near Apartman Beleville

St Marko Church

 Park Tasmajdan is beautifully arranged garden with lots of flowers, trees and greenery. This place is the perfect place to relax in the very urban center and is the meeting place for young people because several universities are at the neighborhood. Near the park is situated St. Marko's Church, the swimming pool and plenty of bars and shops. From Tasmajdan park starts one of the most famous streets in Belgrade Bulevar of King Aleksandar, extra-long boulevard with alleys of plane trees, and small and not so small shops of all types, great pastry shops and restaurants

Taasmajdan park

Apartments near Apartman Marina, Apartman Slavija Zen, Apartman Tesla , Apartman Tesla 3, Apartman Metropol

Gardosh Zemun

Zemun. Although now an inseparable part of Belgrade, Zemun was a special place with its own history and development. While Belgrade was under Turkish rule from the 15th century to the early 19th century Zemun was under the Habsburgs, and have quite central European look and architecture. Zemun is particularly known for Gardos hill - interesting historical attraction, Lido beach, and its excellent fish restaurants at the Danube bank.

Ada Ciganlija. Ada is the biggest river island on Sava with artificial lake. It is popular place especially during the hot summers when more then 100 000 residents and tourists visits its several kilometers long beach. Also there are dozens of cafes, bars, restaurants and sports facilities. This place is live at the night same as at daylight.

Ada Ciganljija during summer

Belgrade markets (or pijace on Serbian). Belgrade markets (just to name few: Kalenic pijaca, Bajlonijeva pijaca, Palilusla pijaca  Zeleni venac, Vidikovacka pijaca etc) are  vibrant places with special spirit.   Some of them are dating back more than a century, where producers of the organic vegetables and fruits but also other products, from cakes to meat products, from wider and closer area of Belgrade, sell to the residents. Who wants to experience the true spirit and everyday life of Belgrade residents, must visit one of Belgrade s markets on Saturdays or Sundays.

Apartments near Apartman Kalis, Apartman Centar

Kosutnjak. Kosutnjak is a large forest park in the southern part of the citywith elevation of 250 meters and covers 330 hectares of evergreen and deciduous forests, meadows and recreation sites. Kosutnjak is a ”lungs” of the city”, with many uphill and downhill’s, lot of tracks and jogging trails, sports playgrounds, restaurants nested in the forests.  People who needs peace and serenity goes to Kosutnjak.

Kosutnjak

If you know other place in Belgrade that deserve to be on this list,  place be free to name it in coments

How to Spend Less Money, but More Time in Belgrade

There are a lot of articles about things you should visit in capital of Serbia. But, just like every big city in a world, Belgrade also has some secrets, some thing that you should avoid in order to travel cheaper and longer.

Accommodation and Food

Find a good place to stay. If hotels are to expensive for your budget, and hostels are not your cup of tea, staying in apartment is a good solution. You can find a lot of cozy, well equipped apartments, with air condition, internet and cable TV. It doesn't have to bi in very center of the city, you can walk downtown or use a public transport. The price vary depending on apartment size, but also location is very important and can make a big difference. It's always better choice to spend seven, then five days, in city like Belgrade. The only thing you should do is to plan ahead and make a smart choices.

Don't eat at expensive restaurants. The food in downtown restaurants sometimes is going to be double the price of food that you can find elsewhere. It is great experience to have a meal at Kalemegdan, or Skadarlija. But, you can find a lot of small, not so famous restaurants, with tastier food and smaller prices. These are the places where local people eating, and they have to offer high quality, or they will lose customers otherwise.

It's smart idea to use websites like Foursquare to check what are Belgradians rating highly, or try some adventure and walk into random restaurant, a few blocks from downtown.

Water is free. You don't have to buy water in Serbia, you can drink it from faucet, or from drinking fountains in public places. Also, you can take a plastic water bottle with you, and fill it on these spots. You can find at least four or five drinking fountains in center of Belgrade, in Knez Mihajlova street. When you're in a restaurant or coffee shop, you can ask for a glass of water, it's free of charge.

Act Like a Belgradian

If you have to exchange money, don't go to the bank. Maybe it looks like the safest place, but exchange rates are the worst, for sure. You should use exchange offices instead, there are a lot of them in Belgrade. They will offer a better rates, especially if you have a bigger amount of money to exchange. You can't pay in foreign currencies, only dinar is accepted in Belgrade, and the rest of Serbia as well.

The other way is to use your card to make payments, but if you want to buy some souvenir from a street vendors, you are supposed to have cash.

Don't use a taxi, unless it is the only option. Public transport in Belgrade is not so great, but it's good enough if you are a small budget traveler. It can take you more time, but you will always get the place you want to visit. When you are going to spend more than few days in Belgrade, or travel in a bigger company, you should consider rent a car as a reasonable option. When you share costs, it is cheaper than a taxi, and more convenient than public transport.

Visit a local tourist office. Maybe it should be the first stop on trip to Belgrade. People that work there are supposed to know the answers on every question that you might have. They get paid for that, so do not hesitate to ask. Here you can get a information:

• about city events
• advice about accommodation and restaurants.
• get a discount cards
• information about places that you can visit for free

Anyway, it is a good place to start your visit.

Private apartments or hotels/hostels - advantages and disadvantages

Apartments for longer and shorter stay became very popular form of accommodation in recent years. Although they are strong competition to classical facilities like hotels and hostels, still do not lose their role in the world of tourism. What should we expect from this kind of accommodation and what is different from hotels and hostels?

ADVANTAGES

Privacy and Anonymity

Private apartments guarantee peace, privacy and anonymity for their guests. Hotels and hostels are busy places with constant murmurs, talks and noise. Sometimes it is very hard to have peace and rest if you stay in hostels full with young people, students, or excursions looking for a good time and party. No one will restricted or legitimize guests in private apartments, as long as they respect house rules.

Services

Services that are offered in the hotel (gym, car wash, beauty treatments and restaurants) can be find cheaper and even on some cases with higher quality in the city of stay. Especially this is the case with local restaurants and bars. Owners of the apartments usually give valuable advises to their guest where to find good restaurant in the neighborhood. If the guests want to cook their own food, and that is very hard to do in hotels. Apartments usually are equipped with all kitchen appliances and visitors can prepare food tastier and cheaper. In hotels meals are served during fixed hours, but in the apartments for short stay guest have flexibility to eat when they wanted, even in 3 o’clock in the morning.

DISADVANTAGES

Reservations

The efficient reservation is one thing in the hotel we take for granted. Situation with smaller private apartments can be very tricky sometimes. Often is not possible to make early reservation weeks or months in advance. Owners avoid accepting reservations in advance for shorter stay, because they can lose some longer reservation.

Capacity

Bigger groups of visitors cannot find enough large apartments for more people. It is impossible for them to organize some business meetings or congresses in one single apartment and have to find 2, 3 or more apartments for entire group. Hotels have advantage because they have large number of identical rooms can accommodate big groups of visitors, fitness centers, swimming pools, saunas, restaurants, laundry, big congress rooms equipped with printers, scanners, copying machines and other office materials,  etc. Most of the apartments have telephone and internet connection, but rarely office space.

Services

In hotels, maids clean rooms and make beds every day, but apartments usually are cleaned once a week. Receptionists, waiters or house cleaners do not exist in the apartments. Some guests expects from their hosts to be all of this Private apartments offered Iron, hair dryer, clean sheets and towels, but shampoo, soaps, napkins are not included in offer. Also, level of hygiene is not uniform in all flats. In some is remarkable, but sometimes in others, it isn’t on high level.

Parking

Every respectable hotel has garage or parking places in their yards, often physically secured. Most of the apartments have limited capacities or do not have parking space at all. If parking space is available, the visitors have to pay extra fee. In Belgrade, it is strictly prohibited to park on public spaces, and police are very efficient in hauling out improper-parked vehicles.

On the end, everyone chooses what suits him most.

Hotels are good solution if visitors do not want to think about cooking, laundry or other everyday trifles. If they seek for quiet family atmosphere and want to experience the environment in a way that they do residents of Belgrade, private apartments can be significantly better option. And maybe most important fact is: apartments are lot cheaper.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about renting apartments for short stay in Belgrade

Apartmentsfor a short stay experienced tremendous growth in popularity in Belgrade. Its existence complete the offer of accommodation capacities, in addition to traditional capacities like hotels, hostels, camps. We listed some of most common questions that visitors asked.

Which is the period of renting apartments for short stay?

Apartments can be rented:

• on a daily basis,
• per day,
• for a few days,
• month and
• a few months

Is it possible to prepare food in the apartment?

This is one of the main advantages of private apartments. They usually have fully equipped kitchen equipped with all necessary household appliances. Just to avoid misunderstandings, refrigerators are empty, but it is possible to arrange with owners to put some food before guest arrival

What about clean towels and bed sheets, how often they are changed?

Clean towels, bed sheets and blankets are understood. Usually, bed sheets are changed once a week, and towels can be changed as needed, but those can be renegotiated with the owners.

What about cleaning the apartments?

Guests can count on clean apartments before arrival. Additional cleaning while guest are staying can be arranged, but must be paid by guests.

Is it possible to invite friends in the apartment?

Of course, that is the main advantages of apartments before hotels and hostels.

Is there phone and internet connection in the apartments?

In most cases there is a phone and the fast internet connections, such as ADSL, wireless or cable internet.

Who will pay for any damages?

The guests are required to maintain the apartment, fixtures and installations and have to compensate damages they caused.

What happens if the guests lost the apartment key?

Cost of replacing locks and making new keys is on their behalf.

Pats?

In most of the cases, pats are not allowed, but of course, owners are very flexible and arrangements can be make.

At what time guest can come and leave the apartments?

In any time! Flexibility is huge advantage, it is possible to arrange with the owners arrival in early mornings, of late night hours, often they wait guests and personally give them keys of the apartment. You can’t find that option with hotels. At the end of the stay, keys can be handed to the apartment owner or at the previously agreed place.

At the end, few words about payment

Payment is in most cases in advance, when guests takes the keys. It is possible to pay partially, but always in advance for the days ahead. Payments can be made in cash and credit cards.

What includes in the price of the apartment?

·         stay in the apartment

·         cleaning

·         overheads (electricity, heating, water, etc),

·         telephone in local net,

·         internet and cable TV

The Best of Belgrade

Belgrade is a tourist destination, visited by increasing number of tourists every year. If you have decided to visit our capital and enjoy your stay, here's what you need to do to make your days spent in Belgrade remained in a good memory:

• find a place to stay

• get informed about transportation

• make a plan about things and destinations to visit

When it comes to accommodation, in Belgrade you can find a great number of apartments, hotels and hostels.

You can use public transportation, taxi, or rent a car. Car rental is probably the most optimal solution. Just make sure that your hotel room or apartment includes a parking lot.

What not to miss in Belgrade

It is not easy to give a concise answer to this question. What makes Belgrade widely known, certainly are: Kalemegdan Fortress, Knez Mihailova street and Skadarlija. But there is much more places, locations and attractions to see, to get a full impression of Belgrade and the people who live there.

Kalemegdan

Skadarlija

We would like to introduce you with some less known way to pass through Belgrade.

Belgrade walking tours. These are walking tours through Belgrade, a journey through space and time. Whether you choose to meet Sweet Belgrade, or decide to start Tesla's footsteps, you will hear and learn about Belgrade from a bit different perspective. The programs last about two or three hours.

Panoramic sightseeing of Belgrade. Another very popular way to get familiar with the city - an open tourist bus tour through Belgrade. During the tour, you can use an audio-guide in Serbian, English, Russian, French and German. This way you will learn a lot of relevant and interesting information about the places that you visited.

Belgrade underground. Did you know that Belgrade under Belgrade's hiding more than a hundred caves, tunnels, passages, which are related to various periods of its history? From the Romans, the Turks over to the Austro-Hungarians - all of them have left some trace. The tour is organized in Serbian and English language.

Belgrade from the rivers. A wonderful way to explore the city from this perspective. Look at Kalemegdan that will stay in my memory, as well as sailing under Belgrade bridges. You will see the place where the Sava joins the Danube. They say that at this point you should make a wish. Also, you can book cruises and tours that offer dinner on boat, and even to spend a night in luxurious cabins.

Jevremovac Botanical Garden. Another place to rest and relax in the center of the city. It spreads on over 5 hectares, and here you can find over 250 species of trees and over 750 species of plants, not just from this region. Ten years ago in, a Japanese garden was settled in a part of this complex. It is furnished and equipped in accordance with the Japanese culture and principles of design. For many tourists, it is the most beautiful and most romantic part of the complex.

Japanese garden

Planetarium. Astronomical Society "Rudjer Bošković" organizes screenings in the planetarium at Kalemegdan. The perfect way to get acquainted with the stars and constellations, the movement of the celestial sphere and other objects. You can see how the sky above the southern hemisphere looks like, and also the stars that we can never see. Screenings are held on Saturdays and they last about an hour.

Instead of conclusion

These are just some of the interesting places that you can visit in Belgrade. If you would like to feel the true spirit of this city, you need to visit its parks, markets, the surrounding holiday resorts... To go to the cinema or theater, visit the Book Fair, Beer Fest or Bemus. Whether you enjoy active holiday, or you need a few days of peace and relaxation, you can find a suitable place for yourself.

Belgrade city market

It is a city rich in culture and history, and has much more to offer. One thing is we know for sure - only one visit won't be enough.