Castle walls line the Danube here, and Roman emperors once lived within a day trip of the city. These are the places where kids climb towers, walk ramparts above the river and peer down at mosaic floors laid some 1,700 years ago. Here's what we checked, from Kalemegdan's walls where the Sava meets the Danube to the Roman amphitheater at Viminacium.
Belgrade Fortress sits on a ridge where the Sava meets the Danube, with Kalemegdan Park wrapped around its walls. Kids can walk the ramparts and old gates, find the Victor monument and the fortress cannon, and go down into the Roman Well, a military bunker or the Nebojša Tower.
The park side has two open playgrounds, a Dino park and the Belgrade Zoo, plus basketball and tennis courts.
Beli Orlovi turns the Upper Town of Belgrade Fortress into a medieval village. Kids watch knights fight in armor and riders joust on horseback, then join hands-on workshops in old crafts like forging, calligraphy and mosaic, or a medieval dance class.
It suits families who like to wander and stop where something catches their eye: there is a medieval bazaar, live medieval and ethno music, and play areas for kids.
The Military Museum sits on a bastion of the Belgrade Fortress at Kalemegdan. Inside, more than 3,000 objects fill 52 rooms: weapons, uniforms, flags and medals tracing Serbian military history from the medieval states to the wars of the 1990s.
Outside, cannons, tanks and armored vehicles from Germany, Italy, Russia, the USA and more stand around the building, including the only surviving Polish TK-3 tankette.
Gardoš Tower is a 36-meter brick and stone lookout built in 1896, standing inside the ruins of the medieval Zemun Fortress on Gardoš hill. Inside, vertical staircases climb past an art gallery to a balcony viewpoint over the red roofs of Zemun and the Danube.
Kids can explore the crumbling fortress corner towers around the base, and locals still call it the Tower of John Hunyadi.
Petrovaradin Fortress was built above the Danube between 1692 and 1780, on three levels. Kids can climb the 214 stone steps to the Upper Fortress, find the Clock Tower whose big hand shows the hour, and look across the river to Novi Sad. Underneath run more than 16 km of military tunnels. The Arsenal now holds the City Museum of Novi Sad, and a bastion holds the Planetarium.
Smederevo Fortress was built from 1428 to 1439 as the last capital of medieval Serbia, where the Jezava River meets the Danube. Its walls, up to 4 meters thick, run with 25 towers around about 11 hectares.
Kids can roam the open Large Town grounds, then enter the Small Town, the former palace, with its Great Hall and carved stone windows. Look for the Turkish bath by the Danube wall.
Golubac Fortress is a 14th-century stronghold whose stone towers climb a cliff above the Danube, where the river narrows into the Iron Gate gorge at the entrance to Đerdap National Park.
Kids can walk the restored lower walls and the lawns by the water, look up at the Hat Tower, its top 70 m above the river, and watch boats tie up at the piers below.
Viminacium was a Roman legionary camp and city on the Danube frontier, and the park shows its excavated remains on guided tours. Stops include the imperial mausoleum, the Roman baths under protective shelters, the rebuilt amphitheater that once held around 7,000 people, and the central courtyard of Domus Scientiarum, the site's research center. In summer a small tourist train runs between the mausoleum and the baths.
The palace was built in the late 3rd or early 4th century for Roman emperors at Sirmium, the Roman city under today's Sremska Mitrovica. A modern building covers the dig, and walkways take visitors down among the excavated walls, the hot-air heating channels under almost every floor, and about 350 m² of geometric mosaic floors. Next to it lay the chariot-racing circus, the only Roman circus found in Serbia.
Lepenski Vir is a prehistoric settlement on the Danube in the Djerdap gorge, where people lived more than 9,000 years ago. Kids see the excavated house floors, then the carved stone heads in the exhibition space, shown alongside bones, fishing hooks and stone tools.
Outside, a replica house built from stone, wood and clay shows how a family lived around its central hearth.
Castle walls line the Danube here, and Roman emperors once lived within a day trip of the city. These are the places where kids climb towers, walk ramparts above the river and peer down at mosaic floors laid some 1,700 years ago. Here's what we checked, from Kalemegdan's walls where the Sava meets the Danube to the Roman amphitheater at Viminacium.
Belgrade Fortress sits on a ridge where the Sava meets the Danube, with Kalemegdan Park wrapped around its walls. Kids can walk the ramparts and old gates, find the Victor monument and the fortress cannon, and go down into the Roman Well, a military bunker or the Nebojša Tower.
The park side has two open playgrounds, a Dino park and the Belgrade Zoo, plus basketball and tennis courts.
Beli Orlovi turns the Upper Town of Belgrade Fortress into a medieval village. Kids watch knights fight in armor and riders joust on horseback, then join hands-on workshops in old crafts like forging, calligraphy and mosaic, or a medieval dance class.
It suits families who like to wander and stop where something catches their eye: there is a medieval bazaar, live medieval and ethno music, and play areas for kids.
The Military Museum sits on a bastion of the Belgrade Fortress at Kalemegdan. Inside, more than 3,000 objects fill 52 rooms: weapons, uniforms, flags and medals tracing Serbian military history from the medieval states to the wars of the 1990s.
Outside, cannons, tanks and armored vehicles from Germany, Italy, Russia, the USA and more stand around the building, including the only surviving Polish TK-3 tankette.
Gardoš Tower is a 36-meter brick and stone lookout built in 1896, standing inside the ruins of the medieval Zemun Fortress on Gardoš hill. Inside, vertical staircases climb past an art gallery to a balcony viewpoint over the red roofs of Zemun and the Danube.
Kids can explore the crumbling fortress corner towers around the base, and locals still call it the Tower of John Hunyadi.
Petrovaradin Fortress was built above the Danube between 1692 and 1780, on three levels. Kids can climb the 214 stone steps to the Upper Fortress, find the Clock Tower whose big hand shows the hour, and look across the river to Novi Sad. Underneath run more than 16 km of military tunnels. The Arsenal now holds the City Museum of Novi Sad, and a bastion holds the Planetarium.
Smederevo Fortress was built from 1428 to 1439 as the last capital of medieval Serbia, where the Jezava River meets the Danube. Its walls, up to 4 meters thick, run with 25 towers around about 11 hectares.
Kids can roam the open Large Town grounds, then enter the Small Town, the former palace, with its Great Hall and carved stone windows. Look for the Turkish bath by the Danube wall.
Golubac Fortress is a 14th-century stronghold whose stone towers climb a cliff above the Danube, where the river narrows into the Iron Gate gorge at the entrance to Đerdap National Park.
Kids can walk the restored lower walls and the lawns by the water, look up at the Hat Tower, its top 70 m above the river, and watch boats tie up at the piers below.
Viminacium was a Roman legionary camp and city on the Danube frontier, and the park shows its excavated remains on guided tours. Stops include the imperial mausoleum, the Roman baths under protective shelters, the rebuilt amphitheater that once held around 7,000 people, and the central courtyard of Domus Scientiarum, the site's research center. In summer a small tourist train runs between the mausoleum and the baths.
The palace was built in the late 3rd or early 4th century for Roman emperors at Sirmium, the Roman city under today's Sremska Mitrovica. A modern building covers the dig, and walkways take visitors down among the excavated walls, the hot-air heating channels under almost every floor, and about 350 m² of geometric mosaic floors. Next to it lay the chariot-racing circus, the only Roman circus found in Serbia.
Lepenski Vir is a prehistoric settlement on the Danube in the Djerdap gorge, where people lived more than 9,000 years ago. Kids see the excavated house floors, then the carved stone heads in the exhibition space, shown alongside bones, fishing hooks and stone tools.
Outside, a replica house built from stone, wood and clay shows how a family lived around its central hearth.
