Skadarlija Street

Skadarlija is a vintage street, an urban neighborhood and former municipality of Belgrade. It is located in the Belgrade municipality of Stari Grad (Old town) and generally considered the main bohemian quarter of Belgrade, similar to Paris’ Montmartre. After Kalemegdan, Skadarlija is the second most visited tourist attraction in Belgrade.

The present Skadarlija, a short and curved street, is a remarkable Belgrade tourist attraction. It includes well-known restaurants, hotels (e.g. Le Petit Piaf), art galleries, antique and souvenir shops, and the Sebilj fountain. Groups playing Serbian brass or traditional urban music and actors dressed in traditional Serb costumes perform down the street. Unlike other similar and popular places in Belgrade that are considered posh, Skadarlija is known as a place visited by young couples and entire families with children. Restaurants offer the typical national cuisine, most notably the roštilj (grilled meat) with pivo (beer). Skadarlija’s cafés, restaurants, art exhibits and cobblestone (kaldrma) promenade attract up to 20,000 people daily. The street is a car-free zone but it would be unsuited for traffic anyway because it is too narrow and with bumpy cobblestones.

“My name is Skadarlija… Or Skadarska street, however you like it. I am no boulevard… Or avenue… Or highway. I am common steep curved alley in the middle of Belgrade. And that would be everything meaningful to be told about me if it wouldn’t be for my bohemian history, my crumbling roofs, my shaking chairs…” — Zuko Džumhur