Serbia

Belgrade nightlife starts when you would normally be going to bed

Belgrade sits where the Sava meets the Danube and has been fought over roughly forty times as a result, which explains why the fortress is enormous and the architecture is a jumble of Ottoman, Habsburg, socialist and glass. It is not a conventionally beautiful city and it does not particularly care.

What it does have is one of the best nightlife scenes in Europe, much of it on splavovi, floating clubs moored on the rivers that operate through the summer and go until dawn. The bar scene in Savamala and Dorcol is more relaxed and starts late by any standard. Nothing meaningful happens before eleven.

Outside the capital, Novi Sad is calmer and prettier and hosts one of Europe biggest festivals in a fortress. The south has monasteries, mountains and a food culture built on grilled meat that vegetarians should prepare for. Prices remain low, English is widely spoken in cities, and Serbia sits outside the Schengen 90-day clock, which is useful for long trips.

Annual events and festivals

• Orthodox Christmas (7 Jan) — oak branches burned outside churches on Christmas Eve.
• Slava (year round) — each family celebrates its own patron saint day. Being invited to one is a real honour.
• Guca Trumpet Festival (Aug) — brass bands, roast meat and hundreds of thousands of people. Chaotic and unforgettable.
• EXIT Festival, Novi Sad (Jul) — held in an 18th-century fortress. One of the best-regarded festivals in Europe.
• Belgrade Beer Fest (Aug) — a large free festival by the river.
• Nisville Jazz Festival (Aug) — jazz in the fortress at Nis.
• Belgrade Book Fair (Oct) — one of the oldest and largest in southeast Europe.
• FEST Film Festival (Feb-Mar) — Belgrade international film festival, running since 1971.
• BELEF (Jun-Jul) — the Belgrade summer festival of theatre, music and visual art.
• Vidovdan (28 Jun) — a date of enormous historical weight in Serbia, marked with commemorations.