Introduction
Beyond Kalemegdan and Skadarlija, greater Belgrade holds a genuinely different set of places — an old Habsburg river town, a planned modern district built from scratch, and a wild river island a short boat ride from the confluence itself.
Overview
Zemun, across the Sava from central Belgrade, was for centuries a separate Habsburg-administered town facing Ottoman Belgrade across the river border — a distinct history that still shows in its character today: a hillside old town climbing to the Gardoš Tower (also called the Millennium Tower, built in 1896 to mark a thousand years of Hungarian settlement), narrow lanes, and a riverside quay lined with fish restaurants looking back across the water at the fortress. New Belgrade (Novi Beograd), on the opposite bank, tells a completely different story — a planned city built almost entirely from scratch starting in 1948 on marshland between the Sava and the old town, its wide boulevards and large Brutalist and modernist blocks a genuine urban-planning experiment rather than organic growth, now home to Belgrade's modern business district and the Sava Centre. Between the two, where the Sava meets the Danube, Great War Island (Veliko Ratno Ostrvo) is an uninhabited river island and protected nature reserve — dense forest, wetland and beaches reachable by a short ferry, a genuinely wild counterpoint to the city on both its banks, popular with birdwatchers and, in summer, with Belgraders looking for a beach without leaving the city limits.
Discover Belgrade
For centuries Zemun stood on the Habsburg side of the Sava while Belgrade proper remained under Ottoman control across the water — a border-town history distinct from the capital's own, and one still legible in Zemun's character. The Gardoš Tower, built in 1896 to mark a thousand years of Hungarian settlement in the region, crowns a hillside old town of narrow lanes and small squares, with panoramic views back over the river toward Kalemegdan. Below, the Zemun quay is lined with fish restaurants specialising in freshwater river catch, a genuinely different dining scene from Skadarlija's meat-forward kafanas across the water.
Ways to Experience This Destination
The Gardoš Tower, a hillside Habsburg-era old town, and a riverside quay of fish restaurants — a genuinely different Belgrade.
A city built from scratch on marshland from 1948, its Brutalist and modernist scale a real contrast to the old town across the river.
An uninhabited nature reserve at the Sava-Danube confluence, reachable by ferry — forest, wetland and a genuine city beach.
Frequently asked questions
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