Quick Facts about Belgrade

Location

Belgrade is located in Serbia, on the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube, the place where Balkan Peninsula meets the Central European Panonian plain. The terrain in the Balkan part is hilly, while the Panonian parts (New Belgrade, Borča…) are flat (except for Zemun).

At Knez Mihailova street, the coordinates and altitude of Belgrade are marked in a small pyramid:

• 44⁰49’14” of northern latitude
• 20⁰27’44” of eastern longitude
• altitude 116,75 m.

Show Belgrade location on a larger map

Language

The official language is Serbian (Srpski), a Southern Slavic language similar to Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian and Bulgarian. The official alphabets are Cyrillic an Latin. You can learn some basic Serbian for travelers here.

Currency and coinage

The official currency of the country is the Serbian Dinar (RSD). However, sometimes Euros and US Dollars are accepted too, unofficially. Some Serbs tend to calculate values in Euros, due to the unstable Dinar currency. The rate is around 120 Dinars for 1 Euro (last updated Nov 20. 2014.).

Dinar coins: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20

Dinar bills: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000

Postal and Area Codes and car plates

The postal code of Belgrade is 11000 and the Area calling code is (+381) 011. The car plates code for Belgrade is BG.

Electricity

As in most cities of Continental Europe, the electricity voltage in Belgrade is 220V. Electrical outlets are standard European.

Water

Tap water in Belgrade is safe to drink. However, the amount of limescale is a bit high. There are also plenty bottled water brands offering regular, mildly carbonated or highly carbonated water. Have a look at this useful map with drinking water fountains across the city streets.

Population

The urban area officially has 1,154,589 inhabitants, and the metropolitan area has 1,639,121. Unofficially it is estimated that there are over 2 million inhabitants, due to a large number of Roma population and a large number of temporary residents (living in Belgrade but officially inscribed in their home towns). Around 4 million people commute through Belgrade every day.

History

Belgrade is one of the oldest capitals in the world, with over 7000 years of continuity. Due to it’s extraordinary location, it has attracted people since the neolithic times, and several neolithic settlements have been found throughout the city territory, the most important one being Vinča (a Danube suburb of Belgrade).

Celts have settled the city around the 4th century B.C. and named it Singidunum. Then came the Romans, developing a luxurious city over the centuries. In the 5th century A.D. it was destroyed by the Huns and later conquered and reconquered by Goths, Byzantines, Slavs, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Serbs, Turks, Austrians until it finally become Serbian again in the nineteenth century.

Since then the city grew rapidly, and the old site at Kalemegdan was converted to a park and open air museum, and the city spread in all directions. The most glorious moments of Belgrade were under the Roman rule (around 4th century A.D.), in the early 15th century under Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević, and in the early 18th century under Austrian rule. A very important and most visible trail was left by the “Between Wars” society of the twenties and thirties of the 20th century.

Time zone

Belgrade and Serbia are in the CET (Central European Time) zone, same as most of Europe (Excluding Britain, Portugal, Romania and Greece) – UTC+1.

In summer the Daylight Saving Time (DST) moves it to CEST – UTC+2.

Working hours

Most shops work from 8 AM to 8 PM during business days and 8 or 9 AM to 3 PM on Saturdays (and Sundays). In the large shopping malls, this period is usually longer, until 10 PM for business days, and in some cases, weekends too.

Grocery stores work usually from 8 AM to 9 or 10 PM, but there are others that work 24h.

Green markets work from 8 AM to 5 PM, though many vendors leave around 3 (Sundays even earlier).

Offices usually have standard 9 AM to 5 PM working hours.

Smaller banks’ offices tend to have very weird working hours, eg. from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM one day, to 4:30 PM other days, non-working Fridays… However, most of them have ATMs (cash machines).

Public holidays

• New Year (1-2 January)
• Orthodox Christmas (7-8 January)
• Serbian Statehood Day (15-16 February)
• Orthodox Easter from Good Friday to the second day of Easter (Shifting dates in April)
• Intl. Labor Day (1-2 May)

On non-working holidays only shops and institutions on duty are open.