New Year in Belgrade (2018)

The party has already started

This year’s program had started on Dec. 1, lasting more than 60 days, until the end of January. Many of the residents and tourists identify New Year in Belgrade with big concerts in the city center, but the manifestation which city is promoting equally enthusiastically is Belgrade winter, which is also covering both months.

The plan is to prolong the duration of winter events in order to make Belgrade an attractive destination for more foreign tourists, not only for a few days around the New Year, when the capacity is full anyway, but also before and after the New Year. Another manifestations starting early is Open Heart Square in the Belgrade’s central square, while similar events will be held in many other strategic locations in the city, especially in the central squares of city’s municipalities, like Fairytale square in Boulevard of King Alexander in Zvezdara district.

Among the most interesting events is the one called Future park, which will be held on the grounds of Belgrade Fair, from Dec. 15 to Dec. 24. Visitors will have the opportunity to see and try the latest technology, such as VR, while an eSports tournament will be also held. This is the event suiting younger age groups, but other events are catering for other groups also, such as seniors, who will enjoy the Senior citizens ball in UK Vuk Karadzic.

In front of one of the most popular meeting places in center, in front of Rajiceva Shopping Center, concerts are planned for every day throughout the end of December, while four ice skating rings will be open – on Ada Ciganlija, in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Tasmajdan park and in Nikola Pasic’s square.

We advise you to book your accommodation for New Year in Belgrade as early as possible. All our apartment for the day preceding and right after the New Year will be booked before Dec 15, while for the other dates it will be possible to find an accommodation for everybody, but it is also advised to book early, especially if you want to have a choice of apartments and locations.

From rap to folk

In the beginning of January the Christmas Village will rise in front Church of St. Sava’s, on of the main attractions of the city, which is especially interesting for the tourists in this time of the year, as many visitors from other Orthodox countries come to Belgrade. Open air concerts are more numerous this year than in any previous winter. In warm-up before the New Year, from Dec 25 to Dec 29, a one or two concerts will be held each day, including the bands and performers such as Irie Fm, Ana Stanic i Prti Bee Gee.

First among three big concerts will be held in the location previously not used for mass events – the new riverside promenade of Sava, where bands Orthodox Celts and Nicim izazvan will play two nights before the New Year. In the following night, the first of two open air shows in front of National Assembly will take place, with lineup consisting of bands Zana and Van Gogh.

For the big night city has enrolled the bands who can satisfy the widest variety of tastes – band Riblja Corba, ethno group Balkanika and the singer Aca Lukas, which seems as a good recipe for the maximum attendance, which will likely be above 150.000, but mostly not in the same time, as music genres of the performers differ considerably.

Expecting more that half a million tourists

All the mentioned events will cost the city about million euros, but it is calculated that the city will actually make more money than it spends for the New Year, at least 20% more. That money is mostly brought in from abroad, as Belgrade is visited by more than 350.000 tourists each year, most of them from other countries, and each year at least 200 tourists coming to Belgrade find their accommodation in Sky Apartments.

Every year the total number of foreign tourists is rising for about 15%, so it is expected that around year 2020. more than half a million tourist will be coming to Belgrade. Most of the are from the surrounding countries  – Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia, while among those who came from far away, Chinese make the biggest number. Lost of citizens of Germany and Turkey are coming and going on daily basis, but they are mostly just resting for a day while traveling between those two countries, not being typical tourists.

The weather is not expected to be harsh for the New Year in Belgrade. It is expected that the temperatures will be 2-3 degrees above the average for December, so chances of snowfall are also good. Sky Apartments invite you to spend this New Year in Belgrade, the city preparing not only great concerts in the open, but also great indoor parties, of which we will talk more in our next post.