Belgrade is greener than it looks from the center, and a real forest is never far away. These are the parks and nature spots for a run, a picnic or a longer hike, with playgrounds, river views, shaded trails and wildlife to look out for. Here's what we checked, from the ramparts of Kalemegdan to the dunes of Deliblato Sands.
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.
Košutnjak is a 330-hectare forest of oak, lime and chestnut on a 250-meter hill, crossed by paths and jogging tracks. Kids can look for squirrels, hedgehogs and woodpeckers, drink from the Hajdučka česma fountain, and walk the shaded path to the iron fence marking where Prince Mihailo was killed in 1868.
The name comes from the does (košuta) that lived in the old royal hunting grounds.
Topčider was Belgrade's first park, laid out in the 1830s in the English style with winding paths, streams and small lakes. Plane trees planted around Prince Miloš's Residence in 1831 still stand there today.
Around the residence sit fountains, a stone obelisk and the Žetelica (Woman Harvester) statue, the city's first park sculpture. Past the lawns, the paths lead on into the Topčider and Košutnjak woods.
Hyde Park is a 7.3-hectare triangle of woodland on the northern slopes of Topčider Hill, between Senjak and Dedinje. A central path lined with plane trees splits it in two: a forested half with running trails, and a recreation half with an outdoor fitness area of 12 machines.
A sawdust trail of about 1,400 meters circles the edge, and a children's playground sits in the middle.
Tašmajdan, which locals shorten to Taš, is a 9.84-hectare park on the site of a limestone quarry the Romans once worked, with Saint Mark's Church at its edge. Shaded paths lead to two children's playgrounds, a star-shaped fountain and a heart-shaped memorial to the children killed in the 1999 bombing.
The Tašmajdan Sports Center sits inside the park, with an outdoor 50-meter pool and a small children's pool beside it.
Ušće Park spreads over 52 hectares of lawns, paths and trees on the point where the Sava meets the Danube, the largest park area in the city. Kids can bike the paths, watch the skaters at the skatepark, and look across the water to Kalemegdan fortress and Great War Island.
In winter, birdwatchers come for the rare waterbirds off the banks.
Jevremovac is a botanical garden run by the Institute of Botany, with more than 1,300 plant species outdoors. Its centerpiece is a Victorian glass greenhouse from 1892, with rainforest plants under the dome and desert succulents in the north wing.
Outside, paths lead past a Japanese garden with stepping stones over water, a water lily pool, a bamboo maze, a children's corner and oaks more than 140 years old.
Avala is a forested 511 m mountain on the city's southeastern edge, protected since 1859 and a long-standing picnic spot for Belgrade families. On top stands the rebuilt Avala TV Tower, with a visitor complex at its base that has sports fields, an outdoor gym and a climbing rock.
Nearby is Ivan Meštrović's Monument to the Unknown Hero, and the Sakinac hiking trail winds up through the woods.
Ada Ciganlija is a former river island on the Sava, now a 6km-long peninsula beside Lake Sava. Its man-made beaches run about 6km, hold the Blue Flag, and have lifeguards through the bathing season.
Away from the water there are playgrounds, including a natural-wood Eco Park, a hands-on Science Park with physics and astronomy exhibits, mini golf, paddle boats, and a tourist train that loops the lake.
Fruška Gora is a low, wooded mountain ridge above the Danube, and Serbia's oldest national park. Clearly marked trails run from easy walks to hard climbs, with plenty of picnic areas and restaurants for a break.
Fossil seashells and corals dug up here date from when the ridge was an island in the Pannonian Sea, and 16 Orthodox monasteries are still active in the woods.
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.
Deliblato Sands is a 35,000-hectare nature reserve of sand dunes, pine forest and steppe pasture, one of the largest sandy areas in Europe. Seven marked trails cross it, three of them easy 3.5 to 5 km routes suited to preschool and school-age kids.
Herds of gray Podolian cattle graze the old pastures, and bee-eaters, hoopoes and kingfishers live here.
Belgrade is greener than it looks from the center, and a real forest is never far away. These are the parks and nature spots for a run, a picnic or a longer hike, with playgrounds, river views, shaded trails and wildlife to look out for. Here's what we checked, from the ramparts of Kalemegdan to the dunes of Deliblato Sands.
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.
Košutnjak is a 330-hectare forest of oak, lime and chestnut on a 250-meter hill, crossed by paths and jogging tracks. Kids can look for squirrels, hedgehogs and woodpeckers, drink from the Hajdučka česma fountain, and walk the shaded path to the iron fence marking where Prince Mihailo was killed in 1868.
The name comes from the does (košuta) that lived in the old royal hunting grounds.
Topčider was Belgrade's first park, laid out in the 1830s in the English style with winding paths, streams and small lakes. Plane trees planted around Prince Miloš's Residence in 1831 still stand there today.
Around the residence sit fountains, a stone obelisk and the Žetelica (Woman Harvester) statue, the city's first park sculpture. Past the lawns, the paths lead on into the Topčider and Košutnjak woods.
Hyde Park is a 7.3-hectare triangle of woodland on the northern slopes of Topčider Hill, between Senjak and Dedinje. A central path lined with plane trees splits it in two: a forested half with running trails, and a recreation half with an outdoor fitness area of 12 machines.
A sawdust trail of about 1,400 meters circles the edge, and a children's playground sits in the middle.
Tašmajdan, which locals shorten to Taš, is a 9.84-hectare park on the site of a limestone quarry the Romans once worked, with Saint Mark's Church at its edge. Shaded paths lead to two children's playgrounds, a star-shaped fountain and a heart-shaped memorial to the children killed in the 1999 bombing.
The Tašmajdan Sports Center sits inside the park, with an outdoor 50-meter pool and a small children's pool beside it.
Ušće Park spreads over 52 hectares of lawns, paths and trees on the point where the Sava meets the Danube, the largest park area in the city. Kids can bike the paths, watch the skaters at the skatepark, and look across the water to Kalemegdan fortress and Great War Island.
In winter, birdwatchers come for the rare waterbirds off the banks.
Jevremovac is a botanical garden run by the Institute of Botany, with more than 1,300 plant species outdoors. Its centerpiece is a Victorian glass greenhouse from 1892, with rainforest plants under the dome and desert succulents in the north wing.
Outside, paths lead past a Japanese garden with stepping stones over water, a water lily pool, a bamboo maze, a children's corner and oaks more than 140 years old.
Avala is a forested 511 m mountain on the city's southeastern edge, protected since 1859 and a long-standing picnic spot for Belgrade families. On top stands the rebuilt Avala TV Tower, with a visitor complex at its base that has sports fields, an outdoor gym and a climbing rock.
Nearby is Ivan Meštrović's Monument to the Unknown Hero, and the Sakinac hiking trail winds up through the woods.
Ada Ciganlija is a former river island on the Sava, now a 6km-long peninsula beside Lake Sava. Its man-made beaches run about 6km, hold the Blue Flag, and have lifeguards through the bathing season.
Away from the water there are playgrounds, including a natural-wood Eco Park, a hands-on Science Park with physics and astronomy exhibits, mini golf, paddle boats, and a tourist train that loops the lake.
Fruška Gora is a low, wooded mountain ridge above the Danube, and Serbia's oldest national park. Clearly marked trails run from easy walks to hard climbs, with plenty of picnic areas and restaurants for a break.
Fossil seashells and corals dug up here date from when the ridge was an island in the Pannonian Sea, and 16 Orthodox monasteries are still active in the woods.
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.
Deliblato Sands is a 35,000-hectare nature reserve of sand dunes, pine forest and steppe pasture, one of the largest sandy areas in Europe. Seven marked trails cross it, three of them easy 3.5 to 5 km routes suited to preschool and school-age kids.
Herds of gray Podolian cattle graze the old pastures, and bee-eaters, hoopoes and kingfishers live here.
