When snow finally sticks, Belgrade heads for the nearest hill with a sled, a tray or a plastic bag. Snow here comes and goes fast, so the good days are worth grabbing. We gathered the spots families use, from the old ski run on Košutnjak to a proper ski school at Divčibare. Check the snow before you go: most of these only work after a real snowfall.
A ski run on the wooded slopes of Košutnjak, one of the hills where Belgrade laid out ski pistes once it became a national skiing center, and where people kept skiing after World War II. The original piste ran about 300 m down the hillside and is still easy to make out. A cafe-restaurant called Ski staza sits at the top.
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.
Crni vrh is the ski slope near the mountain village of Divčibare: one 850-meter run with a 180-meter drop, rated medium, served by a lift and topped up with artificial snow when needed. A ski school and rental shop run all day, with licensed instructors for first-timers.
In summer the lift carries panoramic rides and bikes, and the Magic Forest kids' zone sits beside the bike park.
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.
Zemunski kej is a riverside promenade that runs for kilometers along the Danube. Along the way are cafés on moored barges, restaurants, an amusement park and the former Hotel Jugoslavija, once the city's largest hotel. Kej Oslobođenja park sits on the quay itself.
In summer, a seasonal pontoon bridge links Zemun to Great War Island, and the Leto na Keju festival holds events by the river.
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.
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.
When snow finally sticks, Belgrade heads for the nearest hill with a sled, a tray or a plastic bag. Snow here comes and goes fast, so the good days are worth grabbing. We gathered the spots families use, from the old ski run on Košutnjak to a proper ski school at Divčibare. Check the snow before you go: most of these only work after a real snowfall.
A ski run on the wooded slopes of Košutnjak, one of the hills where Belgrade laid out ski pistes once it became a national skiing center, and where people kept skiing after World War II. The original piste ran about 300 m down the hillside and is still easy to make out. A cafe-restaurant called Ski staza sits at the top.
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.
Crni vrh is the ski slope near the mountain village of Divčibare: one 850-meter run with a 180-meter drop, rated medium, served by a lift and topped up with artificial snow when needed. A ski school and rental shop run all day, with licensed instructors for first-timers.
In summer the lift carries panoramic rides and bikes, and the Magic Forest kids' zone sits beside the bike park.
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.
Zemunski kej is a riverside promenade that runs for kilometers along the Danube. Along the way are cafés on moored barges, restaurants, an amusement park and the former Hotel Jugoslavija, once the city's largest hotel. Kej Oslobođenja park sits on the quay itself.
In summer, a seasonal pontoon bridge links Zemun to Great War Island, and the Leto na Keju festival holds events by the river.
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.
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.
