The NY Times’s view of Belgrade’s nightlife

In an earlier post on our blog, in January, we wrote about Belgrade appearing on the list of 52 destinations worth visiting in 2018. The list was compiled by New York Times, citing exciting nightlife, good food and friendly hosts as top reasons for visiting Belgrade. When the list was published, it was not announced there will be a follow-up visit by a New York Times journalist, reporting from each place on the list. NYT reporter just published an article summing up experiences in Belgrade, and since the writer was an experienced travel journalist who reported from best tourist sites around the planet, she was not easy to impress.

Reporter Jada Yuan spent several days in Belgrade in August, and invested most of her time by exploring restaurants and nightlife. One advice she got early on was not to try to go to Belgrade clubs in high heels. But after entering a club in Beton hala, she discovered that she is the only woman not in high heels, and remarked that all woman looked like models there. She was very happy to see how freely the girls can dance and have fun, even when they are minimally dressed and without a male companion, while in USA that kind of behavior would attract a lot of unwanted advances.

Nightlife in Belgrade, NYT footage

A festival that lasts the whole summer

American reporter noticed that music was playing around every corner, so a walk in center of Belgrade reminded her to a festival. Many places are closing down in the midnight, but there are always others one can switch to another club and so on, so the party never ends. Entrance fee for most places is very low or non-existent, which is fantastic, says Yuan, but it was a little strange to see rows of barges with very different music next to one another.

Another great thing for those looking for fun is a possibility to reserve a table in music bar without the need to pay for it or order expensive bottles of drink. Restaurants in Belgrade are got high marks by Yuan, both the fancy ones and those where people are simply eating in quiet. Great amounts of meat in all dishes were not surprising for the reporter, but for her it was unusual to have so much dairy products on the table for lunch and dinner, something not seen in Europe or America