How to spend 1 day in Belgrade, Serbia!
We’ve got the perfect itinerary for a great day in Belgrade! Belgrade is such a cool city with a lot of history, interesting architecture and awesome nightlife. Come explore Belgrade with us!
This trip took place in August 2025.
We arrived late in the evening at Belgrade airport after a delayed flight. Getting into the country was super fast though – no lines at passport control! Serbia doesn’t have Uber or Bolt, so to get to the city center, we used the super convenient taxis. What was really neat about this was that there is a kiosk right by baggage claim where you enter the area you are going to (old town) and then it prints a ticket for you. When you exit the airport, you just get in line at the taxi stand and it has a fixed rate for the areas of town, so you know exactly what you’ll be paying.
We stayed at the Belgrade Garni Inn. The hotel was really nice, had a big, free breakfast and was very close to many of the attractions we wanted to visit. The room itself was clean and quiet, but was pretty small. Here is our hotel if you wanted to stay at the same place!
We dropped our bags and headed out to a close by dinner – the kids wanted a cheeseburger. Between the 4 of us, we tried 2 burger places right next to each other. I can’t remember the name of the first one, but the 2nd was Perlo Burgeri and I got a truffle burger which was amazing.
The next morning we started off bright and early, which is always the best time to be out in Europe, because no one else is around! We walked up to Republic Square and then headed down the main pedestrian street, Kneza Mihaila. There are a ton of shops, restaurants, live music and activity along this street. We walked up and down it a few times during the day and enjoyed seeing it quiet in the morning and super lively at night!
We also got a coffee at a beautiful cafe called Kafeterija Magazin 1907. It had an extensive coffee menu and beautiful seating area that looked like a library. I was also excited to find a coffee shop that had flavors for my coffee!
Just past the main pedestrian street is a huge park with a ton of activities to do, and we planned to spend most of the morning here. There are playgrounds, green spaces, views of the city and more. Our first stop was a basketball court, of course! This one was especially unique because it was built right next to the old fort. Might have been one of the most unique basketball courts we’ve been to yet. It was also so crowded! It was fun to see all of the courts being used for different teams practicing – little kids, high school and even some adult teams. While we tried to find a place to play, we ran into the man who looked to be in charge of the courts – and after fumbling around with google translate, we think we learned that you have to pay to rent the court? Either way, we gave him about $10 and went on our way to use it. There was also a super old stadium that we sat at to watch – very neat experience.
Next, we entered the fortress. This was built in the 2nd century by the Romans and later expanded by the Byzantines and Ottomans. There was a really nice outdoor military museum with tanks and machinery and more. We wanted to go into the Museum of Torture but it didn’t appear to be open. The kids would have loved that 🙂 There were also really nice view points of the city from the top of the fort. From there, you can even see the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers.
Finally, we went to the Zoo which is also right by the fort. It had a good amount of animals to visit – we especially liked the big cat exhibits and the seal. Some of the exhibits were a bit run down, but it’s a really nice place to walk around outside.
We enjoyed a late lunch at Cookie Beacon Brunch where we got a variety of dishes – egg sandwiches, french toast and avocado toast.
Since when we visited in August and it was nearly 100 degrees this day, we took a quick break back in the air conditioning of our hotel 🙂
In the afternoon, we visited a few of Belgrade’s most iconic buildings, starting with St. Sava Temple. It’s enormous and one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. Construction began in1935 and it’s decorated with tons of intricate mosaics. We were lucky enough to visit on a day when there was some kind of ceremony going on inside and got to listen to the prayers echoing off the ceiling while a large group of family and friends gathered around.
Along our walk back towards our hotel, we saw the St. Mark Orthodox Church, Serbian Parliament, and then walked through the Bohemian Quarter. This is an area we loved and would have enjoyed spending more time here.
In the evening we went back down the main pedestrian street enjoying how lively it gets in the evening. It was so crowded with people out enjoying a nice dinner or walk and live music on every corner. Belgrade certainly comes alive at night! This wraps up our 1 day in Belgrade! Hope this helps you plan your trip in Belgrade!
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