Belgrade walking tours: riverbanks

Date: 23-03-2020

City tours in open buses, in cars, on bicycles or electric vehicles are certainly interesting, but Belgrade walking tours are the best way to really get to know the city. With tours on Segways or hoverboards you can stop anywhere you like, so it’s almost like walking, but pedestrian zones are closed to all vehicles, while many streets, like Skadarlija, are unsuitable for any kind of wheeled transportation, so walking tours really are the best option. Only while walking, one can freely talk with others in a group or with a guide, and only while walking you can easily enter any restaurant or cafe.

Belgrade walking tours – guide or no guide?

Guided tours are the best option if you want to learn a lot, but for a guided tour to be successful, participants have to have similar levels of prior knowledge. In a modern world, knowledge is so widely available, that one can find all information about big cities such as Belgrade on the web, so human guides are mostly superfluous. Belgrade walking tours without a guide might be exceptionally appealing, as food and drink are cheap for European standard, so you can stop anywhere you like, not only in “recommended” places. If you are not coming with a group of people, we encourage you to explore Belgrade on your own, as you only need Wikipedia to find all the data on Belgrade’s history, architecture and much more. Surprisingly, English Wikipedia pages about Belgrade are even richer than pages in Serbian.

Dorcol and the Danube

So, what is the best way to see the important buildings while passing near all the best taverns and cafes, all in an afternoon? Skadarlija quarter, Knez Mihailova street and Kalemegdan fortress are a must, but you can finish this route in just one hour, and most tourists do not know where to go next. The rout can be extended on either end, and extended in a way that will bring tourists to both Sava and Danube rivers.

If you start from Kalemegdan and finish in Skadarlija, just continue to St. Alexander Nevsky church and then to the Museum of Science and Technology. Soon, they will arrive at the Danube bank, which has a broad walkway and an excellent view. Following the river, this route will bring visitors to the confluence of Sava and Danube, and back to Kalemegdan. This route is very nice, as tourists can see Dorcol, the most authentic part of old Belgrade, and see the rivers up close, not only from the fortress.

Another option for a Belgrade walking tour is to continue the typical route from Skadarlija to Kalemegdan by going further into the fort, under the Clock Tower and by the Planetarium, and then slowly down to the Lower Town and than to Nebojsa tower. There are three paths down from the upper fort, and probably the best one is the winding stone path that goes to Ruzica Church. After getting to Sava river, visitors can choose to go left, to the port and further, or right, to the confluence of Sava and Danube.

Exploring Sava’s banks

Walking tour from Republic’s Square to the Danube

Unfortunately, except for the promenade leading from Belgrade Waterfront to Dorcol, it is hard to recommend a good path trough Savski Venac municipality and those parts of Stari Grad municipality next to Sava river, at least until the renovation of the quarter around the old rail station isn’t complete. For touristst who want to explore more of the city, we suggest that they start at Belgrade Waterfront, than go to Branko’s bridge and than across the bridge, either left, toward Gazela bridge or right, toward Zemun. Whatever they choose, tourists will be rewarded with a great view of old Belgrade from the opposite side of the river, and they can also enter some of the barges.

The majority of Sky apartments are in parts of the city near Sava and Danube, such as Dorcol and parts of Zeleni Venac, making them an ideal starting point for any walking tour centered on Belgrade’s rivers. Many guests tell us they didn’t have to use public transport at all during their stay, as they went everywhere on foot, which makes us very glad.