THE TELEGRAPH: Seven reasons to visit Belgrade

Source: Tanjug Friday, 24.08.2018. 12:20
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Belgrade is the solution for a quieter and cheaper alternative away from the tourist hordes, The Telegraph writes.

The British daily highlights seven reasons to visit Europe's best-value city

The first reason is financial in nature, as access to attractions and tickets for public transport will all cost you less than a fiver, while your food and drink spend should also be modest.

The second reason is that “you get two rivers for the price of one”. The city is located on the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, which provide the backdrop for many of the city’s key sights, and split the city up into the more attractive Old Belgrade and New Belgrade, defined by its post-war brutalist architecture.

The third reason is that it has the world’s largest Eastern Orthodox church.

The Telegraph cites as the fourth reason that “the traditional kebabs are not to be missed”.

They also encourage visitors to check out Kalemegdan, the ruins of a fortress, today the city’s most popular park where Belgraders gather to admire the fine view. They also describe the Belgrade-Bar line connects the Serbian capital to one of Montenegro’s biggest sea ports, and the journey takes in swoon-worthy hills, mountains and lakes while crossing of one of the world’s highest viaducts. Tickets are cheap and window seats are generally easy to come by.

The seventh reason cited is a mixture of architectural styles, with the skyline still scarred by communist-era eyesores, but also the Zemun district, lined with Austro-Hungarian houses, a vestige of its past as the southernmost outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while the cobbled Skadarlija Bohemian quarter in the Old Town has a Montmartre-style charm.

– Its youthful population makes the nightlife legendary and the great value coffee shops, bars and restaurants are so thriving you may wonder when any work gets done. Go now, before everyone else finds out – The Telegraph writes.

A study by Post Office Travel Money crunched the cost of a weekend in Europe’s top city break destinations - including Venice, Barcelona and Berlin as well as emerging cities like Antwerp, Toulouse and Belgrade - and revealed that Europe’s “unsung” cities aren’t only good for avoiding the crowds, but that they can end up costing under half the price of the continent’s “bucket list” destinations.

The study surveyed the cost of a basket of 10 typical tourist commodities including the price of beer, wine, coffee and Coca-Cola or Pepsi. It also included a three-course meal evening meal, a travel card, two nights’ accommodation in a three-star hotel, airport transfers, as well as entry to the city’s top heritage attraction, museum and art gallery.

Based on the survey's metrics, Portugal’s second city of Porto (£183.74) is a third cheaper than Lisbon (£274.96). Verona also solidifies its status as an attractive alternative to Venice, coming in 36 per cent cheaper than Italy’s historic floating city. While the two cities may not be comparable in scale and architectural opulence, a weekend in Bratislava is 44 per cent cheaper than Vienna - just forty miles away.


Of all of the 36 cities compared in the survey, Belgrade’s total cost came out the lowest. In the Serbian capital a bottle of beer is £1.73, two nights in a three-star hotel for two adults costs an average of £91, and a 48-hour travel card around the city is a pinch at £3.84.

– In Eastern Europe there are several historic capitals - led by Belgrade, Bucharest and Bratislava - that can rival Krakow, Prague and Budapest on both price and sights. In the west, Porto is a great alternative to Lisbon while cities like Valencia, Verona and Toulouse are cheaper options than city break favorites like Barcelona, Venice and Paris – says Andrew Brown, spokesperson for Post Office Travel Money.

Telegraph Travel's Tom Rowley said of the Serbian capital that few British tourists trouble Belgrade - for now. Some remember the wars of the 1990s and the NATO bombing campaign and prefer to stay away. Others, though, are simply put off by its relative ugliness. Even Uroš Petrović, one of the city’s most prominent writers, admits the Serbian capital is not “overly beautiful”.

– Yet, look beyond its Soviet-era commercial quarter and you will find a fascinating, vibrant city, with some surprisingly attractive pedestrianized streets in the centre, and a certain charm along the riverbanks of the Danube and Sava. More than 40 invasions have colored the architecture, and stained its history with blood, but the city is flourishing once more with a lively artistic and cultural scene – Rowley says.

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