The vibrant and dynamic nightlife in Belgrade achieved international prominence in the early 21st century. Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, gained a reputation both due to the traditional nightlife, mostly represented by the kafanas, and the contemporary, modern nightlife, especially including splavovi, barges and floats adapted into the clubs and cafés. Belgrade often makes the lists of the cities with best clubbing and partying, discreetly shaping itself into the fun and accommodating metropolis.
The splavovi (singular splav) are located along both banks of the Sava, with numerous clubs along the shores of Ada Ciganlija, and the right bank of the Danube. Despite the modern nightlife developed in time into various varieties to appeal to the foreign visitors and younger demographics, Skadarlija, a Bohemian quarter with traditional kafanas still remains one of the most visited Belgrade attractions, second only to the Belgrade Fortress.
The city is especially popular in the surrounding region, with numerous weekend-visitors. The main appeals to the tourists include: generally good knowledge of foreign languages or lack of language barrier in the case of the former Yugoslavia; friendly atmosphere; abundant number of venues (bars, clubs, cafés, kafanas, restaurants); quality cuisine; relatively low prices of the alcohol, especially from the perspective of foreign visitors; lack of the nightlife regulations or the poor enforcement of the existing ones. Alt URL
The growing popularity of Belgrade as fun and entertainment hotspot, especially the "crazy splavovi", garnered criticism in time. Though still described as having the "legacy as an intellectual hangout", and including the successful artistic revitalization of quarters like Savamala or Dorćol, the prevailing image of Belgrade, even officially advertised as such, is that of a city of cheap fun. This typecast promotion made Belgrade's nightlife a focal point for the people searching for low-priced hedonistic, carefree distraction, having a much wider social impact: heavy drinking, drug abuse, crime, prostitution, influence on teenagers and youth and a development of the "reality TV shows influenced splavovi-culture".
Traditional nightlife Origins
Predecessors of modern nightlife were the kafanas, oriental style bistros. The very first one in Belgrade was opened during the Ottoman period, in 1522, in Dorćol. Believed to be the oldest such venue in Europe, it served only Turkish coffee. This was only a year after the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade, and 33 years before the first kafana was opened in Istanbul in 1555. There are no historical sources to why Belgrade was so important at the time to have such venue so early. Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Belgrade in 1661 and counted 21 khans and 6 caravanserais. The largest, Caravanserai of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha had "160 chimneys", and some had harem sections. When Austrians conquered Belgrade in 1718, among other reports to the imperial court in Vienna, they sent a report on kafanas naming them: "Crni orao", "Crveni petao", "Pet ševa", "Tri zeca", "Divlji čovek", etc. They especially addressed the problematic "Kod dve bule", notorious favorite place of the "debauched" Baron Franz von der Trenck.
Belgrade remained rich in kafanas in this period as there were almost 200 kafanas and meyhanas, so production of alcoholic beverages in the city bloomed to meet the demand. Austrian governor, Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, was known for his love of the night life. He abolished all taxes on drink serving, and business blossomed. There were some 140 kafanas and pubs in the German section of the city, and over 200 in the Serbian sector. The former mostly served beer, and the latter wine and rakia. In the 1717-1723 period, four breweries were opened in Belgrade. Duke also organized balls in his palace. In the periods when the balls were organized, music in other parts of the city was forbidden. Common citizens were sometimes forcefully dragged to the balls. where they had to pay the entry fee of 17 kreuzers, which was too high. The aristocracy mostly used the commoners as a laughingstock at the balls, and those who refused to come or made problems at the balls, were jailed and whipped. A massive, lush dinners and feasts, known as , were organized. They included meals out of reach for the common people, like caviar, octopuses, salted herrings, fried pigeons, hot chocolate or imported wines. After the return of the Ottomans in 1739, this "baroque blitz" of Belgrade's nightlife ended.
After the recapturing, at the corner of the modern Kralja Petra and Cara Dušana streets, kafana "Crni orao", the first such facility with the recorded word kafana in its name, survived. It served coffee and nargile. The object was also important for other reasons. It was also the first brewery in Belgrade, and the first venue to work 24/7. On the floor above dwelled guardsmen, the crew of the fortress' Timișoara Gate. As their duty was 24/7, so were the kafana's working hours. The building survived until the Interbellum.
White Bear Tavern was opened in the 18th century in the town of Zemun. The building was constructed in the first half of the 17th century and served as caravanserai (khan) at least since 1658. Popular venue stayed in business until the early 1960s. It is the oldest surviving building in urban Belgrade, beside the Belgrade Fortress walls. However, Zemun developed independently from Belgrade and for the most part during history two towns belonged to two different states. Zemun became part of the same administrative unit as Belgrade on 4 October 1929, lost a separate town status to Belgrade in 1934 and made a continuous built-up area with Belgrade only since the 1950s. Hence, the House at 10 Cara Dušana Street in Dorćol is usually named as the oldest house in Belgrade, while the White Bear Tavern is titled as the oldest house in Zemun.
The word kafana, introduced by the Ottomans (qahve hane), was derived from the Persian qahvah–khanah, meaning "coffee house". English version appeared for the first time in 1615, published by George Sandys after his travels to Constantinople.
Golden age
Prince Alexander Karađorđević codified hospitality objects in 1847, dividing them into mehanas and khans, with former given the rank of craft shops. For a long time venues remained unchanged: clothless tables, loosen chairs and benches, tinplate furnaces fired by the guests themselves, tallow candles or petroleum lamps light. A culture of spending hours in kafanas developed among the lower classes. They discussed daily events, politics, shared funny stories or sang with gusle. But development of westernized venues began, built after the examples in Vienna or Budapest. They became gathering spots for officers, clerks, landowners, and, unlike traditional kafanas, occasionally they had women guests. Princess Ljubica Obrenović was a regular visitor of the fancy "Manojlova bašta", in modern Zeleni Venac, where she was having a beer. It was the first Belgrade's kafana to serve beer, starting in 1835. In time, the crumby-type kafanas mostly remained in suburbia.
Staying up late was against the law, but people would regularly stay in kafanas after-hours. As Belgrade had no street lights at the time, the mayor Nikola Hristić ordered that every person walking at night must have individual, personal lamp, stipulating high fines. As people coming from the venues at late hours were already breaking the law, they had no lamps, trying to stay unnoticed by the gendarmes. A subculture of bribery developed as for the offenders, when caught, it was less expensive to pay the gendarme than to pay the fine, while the gendarmes were poorly paid anyway.
Kafanas became centers of city's social life, as the entire political and cultural pulse of the city radiated from them. Some historians described them as the "most important institutions" from the 19th century to World War II. Prince Mihailo Obrenović also codified them in 1863, and ordered that women were not allowed to own the kafana nor to work in the village and road ones, but one, or exceptionally two, could work in city kafanas. The venues diversified into various types: , bistro, , han, saraj, , krčma, , and later also restoran, hotel, etc. Though all of them offered drinks, some were also offering food, rest and sleepover. Also, many had music. At the end of the 19th century, downtown Makedonska Street had 40 houses, of which 22 were kafanas. Kafanas were generally diversified: some served only coffee, other served only beer or offered only bean soup. Another codification, this time by the municipality, followed in 1877. Kafanas were categorized - kafanas of the first order were allowed to have one female waitress.
As hubs of the social life, kafanas soon diversified: "Esnafska kafana" (for craftsmen - bricklayers, masons, well diggers, carpenters, sawyers), "Makedonija" (farmers and traders), "Kod Albanije" (leaseholders), etc. Depending on the political affiliation of the guests, some kafanas turned into the debate clubs of the Serbian Progressive Party, People's Radical Party or Liberal Party. "Rajić" was the first kafana where modern ćevapčići were prepared c.1860. Staple of the Serbian cuisine today, they were so popular that at one moment there were 300 (ćevapčići grill shops) in Belgrade. Fully named "Kod Rajića junaka serbskog", it hosted the festivities after the complete withdrawal of the Ottomans from Belgrade in 1867, organized by the prince Mihailo.
The first hotel, "Kod jelena", was built in 1843 but became known as "Staro zdanje". It introduced European tradition in entertainment and had the first ballroom in Belgrade. The first ball in Belgrade was held in 1838. They became more frequent after 1860 and had a strict timetable and etiquette. Opposed to this, the vogue of so-called "potato balls" spread among the lower classes, especially in the suburban kafanas. They were named that way as, opposed to the distinguished dances of the rich, at these dance party surrogates people were just jumping and jerking, as if they were kicking potato sacks.
The first kafana which allowed guests to stay the entire night "?", since the mid-19th century, originally only twice a year, after the Christmas and Easter liturgies. Located across the Belgrade's Cathedral Church, it allowed the believers who remained long into the night in the churchyard to stay inside the kafana. On 6 February 1893 the first electrified streetlamp was lit in the city and some chroniclers accept this as the moment when "proper night life" began.
In 1860 one of the best known kafanas, "Kod Albanije", was opened. A modern Palace Albania was built in 1940 on its location. Some of the venues had jovial names, like "Kod pocepanih gaća" [Chez Torn Nickers] and "Sedam Švaba" [Seven Swabians], or were named after the edifices they were close to ("Tri šešira" [Three Hats], because of the Dimović's hat store which occupied the house before and had three tin-made hats above the entrance; "Kod palidrvca" [Chez Matchstick], because of the nearby match factory). Kafana "Amerika" was known for Turkish delight, chickpeas and čočeks, but also for introducing belly dancers and was notorious for prostitution. Hotel and restaurant "Balkan" on Terazije was built in 1935 on the location of the former "Simina kafana" from 1860. Ranked as the highest category 1, it was a meeting place of the businesspeople, and was one of the few here women were allowed to work. "Zlatni krst", also in Terazije, advertised itself in 1862 as having "12 rooms and stable for 30 horses".