Belgrade takes two days. The Danube takes the rest.
What the Iron Gate boat really costs, whether Novi Sad is worth a whole day, and which walking tour gets you under the fortress instead of around it. Reviews of every tour you can book in Serbia.
Where a first week in Serbia usually starts.
One to learn the city, one to get under it, one for the gorge and one for the night. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The orientation dayBelgrade Big Tour: Top Attractions and Belgrade NeighborhoodsOld town, New Belgrade, the fortress and the neighbourhoods nobody puts on a postcard. Take it on day one and the rest of the week plans itself.
02The one underneathBelgrade Underground Tour w/ Sparkling Wine Along the RiverOttoman powder magazines and Roman wells under Kalemegdan, finished with a glass above the water. The city hides most of its history below ground.
03The gorge dayIron Gate NP Tour with 1-hour speedboat ride + 2 viewpointsThree hours east to where the Danube narrows to 150 metres between cliffs, with an hour of it taken at speed on the water.
04The long nightBelgrade Nightlife Bar Pub Club Crawl with DrinksBelgrade does not really start until eleven. A crawl through the bars behind Republic Square is the shortcut to working out which door is which.
The Serbian days out more people book than any other.
Every Serbian tour we have reviewed →The tours that carry the most travellers in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Northern Serbia: Sremski Karlovci and Novi Sad Full-Day Tour from Belgrade
Explore Northern Serbia from Belgrade with Krušedol Monastery, Bermet wine, Petrovaradin Fortress, and free time in Novi Sad.
From · $78
Read our review →
2
Day Trip from Belgrade: Gems of Eastern Serbia
from $127
3
Belgrade Nightlife Bar Pub Club Crawl with Drinks
from $90
4
Belgrade Big Tour: Top Attractions and Belgrade Neighborhoods
from $72
5
Golubac Fortress & Iron Gate Danube Gorge
from $117
6
Along the Danube: Golubac Fortress & Iron Gate Gorge day trip from Belgrade
from $120
7
3-Hour Small Group Walking Tour
from $35
8
Belgrade Underground Tour w/ Sparkling Wine Along the River
from $35
Everything worth seeing in Serbia is three hours from Belgrade.
The country is small and the coach leaves early. Three directions out of the capital, what each one costs to board, and how much of the day it eats.
Belgrade first, then east down the river or north to Novi Sad.
A fortress over two rivers, tunnels under it, a gorge where the Danube squeezes between Serbia and Romania, a Habsburg town an hour north, and a bar scene that runs on floating rafts. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
Belgrade is the only capital sitting on the join of two big rivers.
The Sava comes in from the west and the Danube swallows it under the fortress wall. You can take that meeting at sunset with a drink, at dawn in a kayak around Great War Island, or at speed in a boat heading for the gorge.
Belgrade is a walking city that does not look like one.
Everything on foot →
The centre is compact, the fortress is free, and the interesting parts are the seams: where the Ottoman town met the Habsburg one, where the 1970s concrete starts, where the bars moved in after the warehouses moved out. A guide is the difference between a nice park and a two-thousand-year-old argument.
- 13-Hour Small Group Walking Tourfrom $35
- 2A Crash Course through Serbian Historyfrom $72
- 3Belgrade Private City Tourfrom $137
The old town and the fortress
Republic Square down Knez Mihailova to Kalemegdan, ending on the terrace where the Sava arrives. Two hours, mostly flat, and the one that makes the map make sense.
Tito, the blocks and the bombing
New Belgrade’s concrete, the House of Flowers, and the buildings still standing open from 1999. Guides here grew up with the story and do not soften it.
Markets, bakeries and a long lunch
Kalenic market at opening, burek folded while you watch, then ćevapi and a rakija somebody’s uncle distilled. Portions here are a matter of pride.
East of Belgrade the Danube stops being a road and becomes a canyon.
Past Golubac the river runs into the Carpathians and has nowhere to go but through. At the Great Kazan it is 150 metres wide with 300 metres of rock either side, Serbia on one bank and Romania on the other, and a Dacian king carved into the cliff watching you pass.
Every Iron Gate day →
What a day in Serbia actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Serbia is still cheap by European standards and a good number of the best days here cost less than dinner in Vienna.
Walking tours, the tunnels under the fortress, kayak hours and a pub crawl with the beer thrown in.
The standards: the Iron Gate coach, Novi Sad and Fruška Gora, food walks and the sunset boats.
Private drivers, speedboat gorge days and the long runs west to the Drina and Tara.
Three things that only happen in Serbia.
Fortresses and river cruises exist all over Europe. A gorge you share with Romania, a city that parties on pontoons, and a plum brandy poured before breakfast do not.
The Đerdap Gorge
For a hundred kilometres the Danube cuts through the Carpathians in four gorges, the tightest of them barely 150 metres across. Golubac fortress guards the entrance with nine towers standing straight out of the water. Before the dam went in this was the most dangerous navigable stretch in Europe, and the villages the reservoir drowned are still down there.
- 1Golubac Fortress & Iron Gate Danube Gorge★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 185 reviews
- 2Along the Danube: Golubac Fortress & Iron Gate Gorge day trip from Belgrade★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 185 reviews
- 3Iron Gate NP Tour with 1-hour speedboat ride + 2 viewpoints★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 148 reviews
The Splavovi
Belgrade solved the problem of where to put its nightclubs by mooring them. Splavovi are barges and pontoons tied along the Sava and the Danube, dozens of them, and they change hands, names and music policy constantly. In summer the whole scene moves onto the water and stays there until it gets cold.
- 1Belgrade Nightlife Bar Pub Club Crawl with Drinks★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 277 reviews
- 2RE:PLAY Pub Crawl Belgrade★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 82 reviews
- 3Columbo Pub Crawl Belgrade★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 49 reviews
Rakija
Every Serbian family has an opinion about rakija and most have a relative who makes it. Šljivovica, from plums, is the national one and carries protected status. It is served at room temperature in a small tapered glass, offered on arrival rather than after dinner, and refusing the second one takes practice.
- 1Belgrade Underground Tour w/ Sparkling Wine Along the River★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 151 reviews
- 2Golubac Fortress w/Iron Gate Speed Boat & Rakija Distillery tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 47 reviews
- 3Private Novi Sad, Titanic wine tasting and Farmer’s House★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 30 reviews
Four Serbian bookings that will not wait.
Serbia mostly rewards the last minute. These four do not: they run on boat timetables, seasonal closures and minibuses that fill weeks ahead.
- 01Golubac Fortress & Iron Gate Danube GorgeThe speedboat legs run in daylight and in season only, and one minibus a day goes east. Winter editions drop the boat entirely.
- 02Northern Serbia: Sremski Karlovci and Novi Sad Full-Day Tour from BelgradeNovi Sad fills every weekend and completely during the summer festival on the fortress. Weekday departures are the ones with seats.
- 03Belgrade War Island Kayak TourKayak places are capped by the number of boats on the trailer, and the Great War Island runs stop when the river comes up.
- 04RE:PLAY Pub Crawl BelgradeCrawls run on a fixed night list with a group size cap, and Friday and Saturday are gone first.
When the Košava blows and the boats stay tied up.
The Košava comes down off the Carpathians from the southeast, hard and dry, and it can hold for days. It takes the river trips off the board and makes the fortress terrace unbearable. Serbia has an answer, and it is indoors: tunnels, cellars, kitchens and the long lunch that Serbian winter was built around.
By how the day runs
Belgrade, the gorge, Novi Sad: the shape most first trips take.
Belgrade
The confluence
Golubac
Novi Sad
Savamala
WestThe newest Serbian tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Private Guided Truffle Hunting Tour in Serbia with Lunch
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Private Half Day Serbia Tour Novi Sad and Petrovaradin Fortress
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The White Emigration in Serbia in the Wake of the Russian Revolution
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Belgrade Fashion and Design Tour – Discover Local Designers
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Private Belgrade Street Art and Adventures Walking Tour
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