Animals are closer than you'd think: a zoo inside Kalemegdan Fortress park, peacocks on a forest lake path, pony rides on a farm at the city's edge. Go farther and a day trip reaches wetland beavers, a Balkan donkey farm and horses bred since 1853. These are the places where kids get close to animals. Here's what we checked, from Belgrade Zoo to the Zasavica wetland.
Belgrade Zoo fills about 7 hectares inside Kalemegdan Fortress park and keeps around 200 species. Kids look for the white lions and white tigers, watch the penguins in their 2019 enclosure, and find Muja, an American alligator that has lived here since 1937.
A petting zoo has alpacas, rabbits and pygmy goats, and two cafés and ice cream stands sit inside the grounds.
A hands-on aquarium and reptile house run by the Aquaria Life association. Tanks hold fish from the Sava and Danube, the Adriatic and tropical coral reefs, plus 50 koi carp in a 6-meter tank. The reptile corner has snakes, leopard geckos, iguanas, tarantulas and scorpions, and staff can arrange time with some of the animals. Outside, a garden keeps red-eared turtles, koi and bonsai trees.
Ada Safari is an S-shaped lake of about 6 hectares near the downstream tip of Ada Ciganlija, ringed by century-old forest and a walking path. Peacocks, geese, ducks and swans live on the grounds, and herons and kingfishers turn up by the water.
The lakeside restaurant has a kids' playground with slides and big gardens. The lake itself is stocked for catch-and-release carp fishing.
Salaš Stremen is a Srem-style ethno farmstead with a restaurant, a horse riding club and grounds set up for family celebrations.
Younger kids can ride a pony or a horse around the grounds, and the club runs a riding school with a trainer for kids ready to learn properly. The club also hosts riding competitions, from an easy trot to fast gallops and jumps.
Zasavica is a protected wetland in an old bed of the Sava: a slow river lined with reed beds, water lilies and flooded meadows. Beavers brought back in 2004 now build dams along the channels.
Kids can visit the Balkan donkey farm, look for woolly Mangulica pigs and Podolian cattle on the Valjevac pasture, and find carved sculptures of local animals, including a 15-ton stone ox at the main entry.
Ljubičevo is Serbia's first state stud farm, founded in 1853 by Prince Miloš Obrenović on 300 hectares beside the Velika Morava river. Kids can watch the farm's horses, ride in a horse-drawn carriage and find the monument to Ljubičevac, a Triple Crown winner.
Walking paths, a 350-meter fitness trail, an outdoor gym, a playground and a mini adventure park fill the grounds.
Palić Zoo covers 10 hectares near Subotica, with more than 450 animals from over 100 species: tigers, zebras, brown bears, seals, lemurs, camels and meerkats among them. Paths run through a botanical garden, and the grounds hold a children's playground and an adventure park.
On weekends, keepers feed a different animal each hour in front of visitors and answer kids' questions about what the animals eat.
Animals are closer than you'd think: a zoo inside Kalemegdan Fortress park, peacocks on a forest lake path, pony rides on a farm at the city's edge. Go farther and a day trip reaches wetland beavers, a Balkan donkey farm and horses bred since 1853. These are the places where kids get close to animals. Here's what we checked, from Belgrade Zoo to the Zasavica wetland.
Belgrade Zoo fills about 7 hectares inside Kalemegdan Fortress park and keeps around 200 species. Kids look for the white lions and white tigers, watch the penguins in their 2019 enclosure, and find Muja, an American alligator that has lived here since 1937.
A petting zoo has alpacas, rabbits and pygmy goats, and two cafés and ice cream stands sit inside the grounds.
A hands-on aquarium and reptile house run by the Aquaria Life association. Tanks hold fish from the Sava and Danube, the Adriatic and tropical coral reefs, plus 50 koi carp in a 6-meter tank. The reptile corner has snakes, leopard geckos, iguanas, tarantulas and scorpions, and staff can arrange time with some of the animals. Outside, a garden keeps red-eared turtles, koi and bonsai trees.
Ada Safari is an S-shaped lake of about 6 hectares near the downstream tip of Ada Ciganlija, ringed by century-old forest and a walking path. Peacocks, geese, ducks and swans live on the grounds, and herons and kingfishers turn up by the water.
The lakeside restaurant has a kids' playground with slides and big gardens. The lake itself is stocked for catch-and-release carp fishing.
Salaš Stremen is a Srem-style ethno farmstead with a restaurant, a horse riding club and grounds set up for family celebrations.
Younger kids can ride a pony or a horse around the grounds, and the club runs a riding school with a trainer for kids ready to learn properly. The club also hosts riding competitions, from an easy trot to fast gallops and jumps.
Zasavica is a protected wetland in an old bed of the Sava: a slow river lined with reed beds, water lilies and flooded meadows. Beavers brought back in 2004 now build dams along the channels.
Kids can visit the Balkan donkey farm, look for woolly Mangulica pigs and Podolian cattle on the Valjevac pasture, and find carved sculptures of local animals, including a 15-ton stone ox at the main entry.
Ljubičevo is Serbia's first state stud farm, founded in 1853 by Prince Miloš Obrenović on 300 hectares beside the Velika Morava river. Kids can watch the farm's horses, ride in a horse-drawn carriage and find the monument to Ljubičevac, a Triple Crown winner.
Walking paths, a 350-meter fitness trail, an outdoor gym, a playground and a mini adventure park fill the grounds.
Palić Zoo covers 10 hectares near Subotica, with more than 450 animals from over 100 species: tigers, zebras, brown bears, seals, lemurs, camels and meerkats among them. Paths run through a botanical garden, and the grounds hold a children's playground and an adventure park.
On weekends, keepers feed a different animal each hour in front of visitors and answer kids' questions about what the animals eat.
