Red Star Belgrade away.

[Bibbers]

Also, most importantly how much is it for a pint over there?

Depends on what you want.
- The cheapest I know of in the wider city is 115 RSD (84p).
- The cheapest I know in the city centre is (I think) 190 RSD (£1.40).
- Average in the city centre is around 250-280 RSD (touching on £2).
- For a decent micro-brew, expect in the region of 350-420 RSD (or considerably more for something imported like Brew Dog - you're looking at 650 RSD/£5 per pint for that).

Beers (industrial lagers) are generally around the 5.2% abv mark. Most craft/micro beers are upwards of 6%, with some around 7.5%.

On Skadarlija, you'll be paying 300-350 for a bog-standard Serbian lager or something international and crummy like Amstel or Bavaria, most likely in a plastic glass post-match or if a crowd are gathered. Heineken is always more expensive, by roughly 20-25%.

From local lagers, I drink Zajecarsko, and will drink Niksicko (a Montenegrin beer, but brewed here) and Lav. I tend to avoid Jelen, but some people like it. Nektar (from Bosnia & Herzegovina), although less widely available, is also decent.

Like I mentioned earlier, Gunners is the place to go if you want to try local craft beers and remain close to Studentski Trg. A bit further away (but also in the centre) is Samo Pivo (lit. 'Only Beer'). It's got the biggest beer menu, but prices are a bit heftier, service can be rubbish, and there are no drinks except beer (not even soft drinks, from what I remember).

One more bit of advice for the drinkers: If you want to drink rakija, go ahead, but I'd advise you not to down shots of it. It's definitely something for sipping (possibly with a glass of water alongside), and not for an empty stomach, either. If you're eating a meal, ask the waiter for advice on which rakija to drink before/after food - they generally love to talk about it and are quite happy if a foreigner has a genuine interest in it, rather than sees it as something like tequila or vodka.

On the subject of food, it can be a nightmare to get anything after midnight on a weekday, so if you're planning on pulling a late one, make sure you fit in a meal at some point, because there's no chance of a 2am kebab.

 

[Bibbers]

One more thing for people arriving in advance - Bryan Adams is playing in the arena on New Belgrade the night before the game, so bars are likely to be a bit livelier/open later on Tuesday night than Wednesday, as the crowds re-enter the town after the concert finishes.

 

[TheGhost]

5 of us flying Tuesday-Thursday via Amsterdam

Which flight out of Amsterdam to Belgrade are you on i'm on the 9.30am? And how are you getting to The Dam?

 

[pendlebury blue]

Which flight out of Amsterdam to Belgrade are you on i'm on the 9.30am? And how are you getting to The Dam?

We are on the 9:30 flight from the Dam
5:55 from Manchester to Dam
On the way back from Luton at the moment didn’t have enough points but managed to get a ticket. I’ll put my tin hat on now but I went to Layland motors away first team game

 

[Aguero_Element]

Looks like a great city to visit tourism wise

 

[nw42]

Hi all,

New to the site, but Belgrade-based City fan (first game was away to Oldham in c.Dec 1996).

A bit of basic info:
Buses from the airport: You can pay in cash for the A1 (400 RSD, about £3), but all other tickets must be bought in advance from a kiosk or by text message/app, and I don't think there's a kiosk at the station, but I might be wrong about this. Text messages can only be sent from Serbian numbers. For those services, the tickets are 50 RSD (40p), or an all-day ticket for all public transport is 120 RSD (about 90p).

For buying a sim, there's little difference if here for 2-3 days. You're talking about spending £4 to £5.50 unless you want to make 'real' calls (rather than Viber/WhatsApp). I use MTS. It's 400 RSD for the SIM, and the free stuff you get plus 500 RSD credit (for public transport tickets) should be more than enough to see you through less than 7 days here.

Exchange offices: Usually, they don't accept cards. They also don't accept coins. It's best to bring Euros with you (if you have any left from the summer or lying around from other away trips), because the exchange rate means you'll lose around 0.2-0.5%. On GBP - unless you go to TrangeFrange exchange offices (I don't think they have any outlets in the centre) where the exchange means you lose around 1.2% - you're talking about a 6.5%-ish commission. So, for £100 worth of Euros, you'll get £99.65 worth of dinars, but for £100 worth of GBP, you'll get around £93.50 worth of dinars. Pretty big difference.

Before the game, we'll probably be bussed in from Studentski Trg (Google it), and away fans tend to be gathered at Plato bar. Maybe a 1.5 minute walk from there is Gunners Pub (nothing to do with Arsenal), which has decent local craft beers, if you're that way inclined. Plato is good for the non-smokers, as it has a large outdoor area (I think he bar's name is a play-on-words of Greek philosopher Plato and 'plateau', as it's situated on the plateau below the philosophy faculty).

EDS game - I honestly have no idea how feasible it will be to get from that to the stadium, as it's the early kick-off and pre-game road closures will transect the route from Vozdovac (I live a 5-minute walk from that stadium) to Studentski Trg.

Post-game AVOID TAKING A TAXI BACK TO THE TOWN. Pre-COVID, the taxis parked outside the stadium were 30 quid a pop to Terazije (again, Google the location). Now you're talking in the region of £50+, I'd guess, because they're all unregulated. If you're in a group of 4, it might be worth it, but you're in for a big hit on your wallet if travelling solo. In general, the best taxi companies to use are Pink and Naxis, and Alfa Bell, Lux, Plavi and Lav are all generally reliable.

Also, expect to be held in the ground for 90-120 mins after the game. It's an early kick-off, cold December weather, and a few days before elections, so policing of the game is a bit unpredictable in this regard.

Will try to post a bit more info throughout the evening, and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to put them up here.

Brilliant advice this mate, thanks. Although I'm still unsure about what to bring in terms of cash to get me started, so I can't just get £100 worth of Dinar at the airport using my debit card? But if I bring cash I can change it no problem but I'll pay a premium, ie about £6 or £7?
Have had a look around but I've no Euros, just Turkish Lira and a few Rupees, so I really need to bring as much cash as I think I'll need for 4 days, I think. I've got a Revolut card and can load it with Dinar, would that help?
Sorry if the answers seem obvious but, in my defence, I'm an FOC.
Cheers in advance.

 

[AkanjisAfro]

Anyone staying in Luton tonight?

 

[Bibbers]

Brilliant advice this mate, thanks. Although I'm still unsure about what to bring in terms of cash to get me started, so I can't just get £100 worth of Dinar at the airport using my debit card? But if I bring cash I can change it no problem but I'll pay a premium, ie about £6 or £7?
Have had a look around but I've no Euros, just Turkish Lira and a few Rupees, so I really need to bring as much cash as I think I'll need for 4 days, I think. I've got a Revolut card and can load it with Dinar, would that help?
Sorry if the answers seem obvious but, in my defence, I'm an FOC.
Cheers in advance.

I honestly don't know how Revolut works, so I can't tell you about that.
Probably the cheapest thing to do (excluding Revolut) would be to change GBP>EUR in the UK, then EUR>RSD here, to be honest. Otherwise, you can withdraw cash at a cashpoint in the airport here, and use that, but you'll be charged a few quid (on top of whatever your bank charges you) for the privilege. Or, like you said, bring over GBP and change it here, but you'll take a fair whack on the exchange rate (probably even worse if you have to change some straight at the airport).

 

[nw42]

I honestly don't know how Revolut works, so I can't tell you about that.
Probably the cheapest thing to do (excluding Revolut) would be to change GBP>EUR in the UK, then EUR>RSD here, to be honest. Otherwise, you can withdraw cash at a cashpoint in the airport here, and use that, but you'll be charged a few quid (on top of whatever your bank charges you) for the privilege. Or, like you said, bring over GBP and change it here, but you'll take a fair whack on the exchange rate (probably even worse if you have to change some straight at the airport).

Ok thanks mate, flying out early tomorrow so not much chance of picking up Euros now. No worries, I'll just put it down to experience and learn from it.

 

[mcfc1964]

Some great info from Bibbers and others ,really looking forward to it
what do we reckon is the pub of choice on Tuesday night to start the noise off.looking at what’s been said it seems to be a choice of
Spasicev Pub
Gunners pub
plato
The Three Carrots ( Irish bar I think )