Is Belgrade A Beautiful City?
One of the world’s leading travel guidebook companies, Lonely Planet, said that “Belgrade is not a beautiful city - even Belgraders agree on that - but it is an interesting city.” Many travelers used the Lonely Planet guides and other similar references when travelling to Serbia.
The latest example is Sarah. She is currently visiting Belgrade and had a great day there. “Spent the day walking around Belgrade, Serbia with Michaela from Sweden. Again pleasantly surprised. The guide books say “Belgrade is not a beautiful city.” Well I guess they comment on so many that some have to be “not so beautiful,” but it was good. Enjoyed walking around. Lots of nice buildings and a lot of people who speak English. Great markets, really cheap veggies and bakeries.”
Hopefully, many travelers do not trust any guide book. The best place to go is Internet to check out other people’s reviews. People who have recently been in Serbia. That’s most accurate way to get information for a place you have never been to.
Comments
By beppe on July 7th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
The italian edition don’t say it..
Lonely planet has waited ten years to edit a guide of ex Yu (calling it western balkans). The outcome wasn’t so pleasant.
Unfortunately it is the only one avalaible onto the italian market..
Belgrade is..
Love
Passion
Chaos
In one word: wonderful
If lonely planet doesn’t agree to it..
Jebi ih
Greets from Italy
By Nick Gilbert on July 11th, 2009 at 10:50 am
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s a horribly ugly town in most of the central areas especially on grey rainy days or when the street lights paint it all a grim orange colour.
But then, who’s looking at the buildings with all those Belgrade girls walking around?
I can’t remember seeing any nice towns (in terms of buildings) anywhere in Serbia for that matter. In England the smaller the village the more likely it will be pretty, this isn’t true in Serbia, villages are all depressing and delapidated places here, that’s my experience anyway. Correct me if wrong.
By merkat on July 13th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Nick, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, so I won’t try to correct you.
But, I don’t think that beauty of one city is determined only by its buildings, do you agree? There’s a lot more to include, when labeling a city “ugly” or “beautiful”. I have visited some cities in Europe with beautiful buildings, but those cities are “dead” from 8 P.M. on working days (no people on the streets)- that’s what I consider ugly, but I wouldn’t label it for that as “ugly city”.
I know that Belgrade is dirtier than most European capitals, but one month ago my cousins from Jakarta came to Belgrade, and I was surprised when they said “Oh, how nice and CLEAN your city is!” - I have to add that we were maneuvering between some dog-made-piles at that moment. SO, not only that beauty and ugliness are relative, but also cleanliness ;o) Think about that.
By Karl Haudbourg on July 16th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Nick Gilbert. “who’s looking at the buildings with all those Belgrade girls walking around?” I agree, no one! “I can’t remember seeing any nice towns (in terms of buildings) anywhere in Serbia for that matter.” Check out http://sajkaca.blogspot.com/
By David Faber on July 17th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I think it’s true that in general the beauty of the architecture in Serbia is a little below the European norm. Serbia’s never going to have a London or Vienna. However, Serbia has some very nice natural beauty and is a fantastic destination for gastro-tourism. On top of that there is a ton of archeological potential in Serbia, Nis especially. I’m hoping that somebody comes along to sink more money into building up the tourist industry from those perspectives.