Welcome to host city Belgrade!

Are you planning to come to Serbia in May? Prepare your trip with Eurovision.tv! We've listed the most important details about Serbia as travel destination for you.
Currency: The monetary unit is the Dinar (RSD) - 1 Dinar = 100 Para. Coins: 50 Para, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 Dinar

Banknotes: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 1000 and 5000 Dinar

Power supply: 220 V, 50 Hz

Banks & Postal service: Most banks and post offices are open from 08.00 a.m. to 07.00 p.m. on weekdays and from 08.00 a.m. to03.00 p.m. on Saturdays. On Sundays there is usually a designated bank or post office that maintains needed services.

Hotels and accommodation: 295 hotels, 87 motels, 344 vacation complexes, mountains lodges and other accommodation facilities. Total number of beds is 88,598 (37,234 in hotels).

Shops: Food shops typically open at 6:00 and work until 21:00, both weekdays and Saturdays. Sundays they typically operate from 6:00 to 15:00. Everywhere, there are stores open 24 hours a day. Markets are opened every day from 6:00 to 17:00.

Credit cards: International credit cards Visa, Master Card, Diners and others are accepted in the majority of stores, hotels and restaurants.

Medical care: Hospitals and out-patient clinics typically work 24 hours a day. Private medical practices are common and emergency medical service is available everywhere 24 hours a day. Pharmacies are opened from 8:00 to 20:00 on working days and on Saturdays from 8:00 to 15:00. Each city has a pharmacy that is open on Sundays and throughout the night.

Telephones: To call Serbia from outside, the country code is +381. City codes are: Belgrade (0)11, Novi Sad (0)21, Niš (0)18 etc. For the international calls from Serbia dial 99 + code of the desired country + code for the city.

Internet: Serbia has 1,6 million internet users. Internet cafes are common in urban centers. Internet country code is .rs, with former country code .yu being phased out in 2007.

Important phone numbers:
Police: 92
Fire service: 93
Medical emergency: 94
Help on the road: 987

Holidays (non-working days):
January 1 & 2 - New Year
January 7- first day of Orthodox Christmas
February 15 - Statehood Day of the Republic Serbia
May 1 & 2 - International Labor Day
Orthodox Easter - from Good Friday to the second day of Easter
On non-working holidays only shops and institutions on duty are open
Believers are entitled not to work on their religious holidays, depending on their religion

Holidays (working days):
January 27 (St. Sava) - Spirituality Day
May 9 - Victory Day
June 28 - St. Vitus Day

Mobile operators:
064 MTS (www.mts.telekom.yu/)
063 TELENOR (www.telenor.co.yu/)

Visa informationCitizens of the following countries do not need to obtain visas:

a. Nationals provided holding all types of passports: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Holy See (Vatican), Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands,Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Tunisia, United States of America.

b. Nationals provided holding diplomatic, official passports and ordinary passports with indication "on business": Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, DPR Korea, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Russian Federation, Ukraine.

c. Nationals provided holding diplomatic and official passports: Ecuador, Guinea, Pakistan, Peru, Turkey.

d. Nationals provided holding diplomatic passports: Egypt

e. Nationals provided holding ordinary passports: Mexico

Foreign nationals visiting Serbia who are required to obtain visas at the diplomatic or consular mission of the Serbia need:

Valid Passport;
Letter of invitation (verified by the competent Serbia authority) or an invitation by a company for a business visit or a receipt or authorized tourist company certifying that the travel arrangement has been paid for (letter of credit or other payment receipt);
Return ticket;
Proof of sufficient funds in hard currency and
Certificate that a health fund shall cover the medical costs in Serbia, if any.
Transit visa applicants are required to obtain the visa for the country they will enter after the transit through Serbia.

Information:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia
Kneza Milosa 24-26, 11000 Belgrade
+381 11 3615 666, 3615 055, Fax: +381 11 3618 366
smipdsik@eunet.yu
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/

For up to date information on visa requirements, visit the Consular section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Serbia website at:
www.mfa.gov.yu







About Belgrade

In May, the eyes of Europe will be focused on Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, when the city has the honor of hosting the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest. Often being referred to as the booming city on the Balkans, Belgrade is the new place to be.

Belgrade, known as Beograd by the locals, is the largest and capital city of Serbia. The city has almost 1,6 million citizens. Belgrade almost 117 meters above sea level and is located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. It is the cultural and political heart of the country and throughout the year, several music- and cultural festivals take place across the city. Belgrade has an extensive public transport system based on buses (118 urban lines and more than 300 suburban lines), trams (12 lines), and trolley buses (8 lines).

A difficult history, a promising future!Due to its central position in the Balkan region, Belgrade has been the scene of many battles. In the 16th century, the city was occupied by the Ottomans, in the 17th and 18th century by the Austrians. After the First World War, Belgrade became the capital of the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslava. During the Second World War, the country was invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces. In November 1945, Tito proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade, later renamed to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

From 1992 until 2003, Belgrade was the capital of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. NATO bombings during the Kosovo War in 1999 caused substantial damage to the city. After elections in 2000, Belgrade was the site of major demonstrations, which resulted in the ousting of president Milošević.

From 2003 until 2006, Belgrade was the capital of the State Union of Serbia & Montenegro. After Montenegro voted for independence from the State Union, Serbia proclaimed its independence on the 7th of June, 2006. Nowadays, Belgrade is the capital of an independent Serbia.

Weather forecastShould you plan to come to Belgrade for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, or just to explore the city, it is good to know that the average temperature in May is around 23°C. Between April and October, maximum temperatures vary from 18 to 28°C average.

Belgrade's rich cultural heritageThe historic areas and buildings of Belgrade are among the city's premier attractions. They include Skadarlija, the National Museum and adjacent National Theatre, Zemun, Nikola Pašić Square, Terazije, Students' Square, the Kalemegdan Fortress, Prince Michael Street, the Parliament, the Temple of Saint Sava, and the Old Palace. On top of this, there are many parks, monuments, museums, cafés, restaurants and shops on both sides of the river. The hilltop Avala Monument offers views over the city. Josip Broz Tito's mausoleum, called Kuća Cveća (The House of Flowers), and the nearby Topčider and Košutnjak parks are also popular, especially among visitors from the former Yugoslavia.

Ada Ciganlija is a former island on the Sava river, and Belgrade's biggest sports and recreational complex. Today it is connected with the shore, creating an artificial lake on the river, featuring 7 kilometers of beaches. It is the most popular destination for Belgraders during the city's hot summers. Apart from Ada, Belgrade has total of 16 islands on the rivers. Among them are the Great War Island and Small War Island, which are protected by the city's government as a nature preserve due to its fascinating and unshattered wildlife.

Belgrade's vibrant night lifeIn the Balkan region, Belgrade is popular for its vibrant night life, as many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (splavovi) spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers.

Many weekend visitors, particularly from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, prefer Belgrade nightlife to that of their own capitals, due to a perceived friendly atmosphere, great clubs and bars, cheap drinks, the lack of language difficulties, and the lack of restrictive night life regulation.

A traditional Serbian nightlife experience, accompanied by traditional music known as Starogradska (roughly translated as Old Town Music), typical of northern Serbia's urban environments, is most prominent in Skadarlija, the city's old bohemian neighbourhood where the poets and artists of Belgrade gathered in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Skadar Street (the centre of Skadarlija) and the surrounding neighbourhood are lined with some of Belgrade's best and oldest traditional restaurants (called kafanas in Serbian), which date back to that period. At one end of the neighborhood stands Belgrade's oldest beer brewery, founded in the first half of the nineteenth century. One of the city's oldest kafanas is the Znak pitanja.

Facts about Belgrade
Belgrade has an Agreement of Cooperation and Friendship with several former Eurovision Song Contest host cities, such as Athens, Kyiv, Madrid and Rome;
Although Serbia does not have a coast, the river banks have several beaches to sunbath, relax and enjoy;
In 2006, Financial Times' magazine Foreign Direct Investment awarded Belgrade the title of City of the Future of Southern Europe.