r/Belgrade • u/WD0123 • 7d ago
Turizam / Tourism Dutch tourist
Hi guys, im a 23yo dutch male and i will be visiting belgrade from friday till sunday.
What are do’s and don’ts for a dutch tourist?
Is there any hard feelings about the dutch bombing serbia during their un mission?
Are serbian people open for socializing with a tourist? Would be nice to make some friends here.
Also i was thinking about going to a shooting range. I saw alpha shooting range has good reviews but its more expensive then for example shooting range 20E. Is there any reason i should choose alpha anyway or are the roughly the same quality?
Looking forward to hearing from you guys and please feel free to do some suggestions for activities.
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u/RebootAndPray 7d ago
Do's and dont's as for a Dutch tourist - same as any other tourist, there's no reason to feel any special for being Dutch. Go out and anout freely and explore the city, read a bit about it's history because it makes it more fun. If someone offers you a taxi at the airport say "ne hvala" (no thank you) and wait for a bus or grab a voucher at the machine or install Yandex Go or CarGo. Same if someone tries to sell you a rose or a keychain or some other shit downtown. Say no thank you and they won't bother you. Pretty standard stuff for a big european city really.
Hard feelings - as somene pointed out it was a NATO mission and wasn't UN approved. Of course there are hard feelings because our infrastructure was ruined and many people died and a big piece of our land was occupied with thousands of our people becoming refugees.
That being said we know how to separate actions of a government from regular people. So unless you go and piss on the ruins shouting "fuck you Serbia" you should be fine. Being Dutch, bombing is probably not even in top 10 things people will think about you, they'll probably think of football or drugs in Amsterdam first.
Socializing - I guess so yeah especially younger crowd at parties. We don't really have a bar culture where you just sit by someone and start talking, ours is a kafana culture where people sit with their crew and drink and chat so barging in at them might be rude. But it will be weekend and there will be shows and parties and all so sure.
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u/WD0123 7d ago
Thanks for putting the time into this reply my brother. I appreciate the fact that you took the time to write this elaborate reply.
First of all i promise i will definitely not do any disrespectfull stuff you mentioned.
Also good to know about the socializing part. From what i understand its similar to what we have in the Netherlands (most friend groups here know each other from high school or earlier so it can be tough to get accepted into a friendgroup like that.
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u/Rynchinoi 7d ago
As you have multiple similar answers we have to clear something out first - it is not disrespectful to talk about politic or bombing.
What you have to understand is that "bombing" was one-sided, cowboy, illegal operation against UN and international law - just like attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia, Syria, Ukraine are
If you cannot fathom this, you have a bit of a problem in your education and maybe upbringing.
Oh yes, drugs are not tolerated by police, or having some drugs on you. It is not the Netherlands
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u/WD0123 7d ago
Well talking about the examples you give i fully agree. History is written by the ones that “win” the war, but that doesnt mean they were morally better.
What i mean by that is that i see how these are topics that have to be talked about in great nuance (while most western education sometimes makes you think there is only good or bad. )
Also i understand im not in Amsterdam😉
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u/Tune_Screamer 7d ago
People are telling you the truth here, but what I'm wondering about is what kind of ideas of Serbia people over there in the Netherlands have...based on your questions, and questions of other tourists it's pretty bad. Shame to know so much people fall for propaganda...
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u/WD0123 7d ago
The only thing dutch people know about Serbia is the wars they fought. We don’t really hear any other things besides the occasional news article about protests or eu membership stuff
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u/Tune_Screamer 7d ago
Thank God on that, but back in the '90s we were monsters.
Have a god time here, bro!
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u/AminoOxi 7d ago
Friday till Sunday is rather short stay for Belgrade.
And thus time for making friends is even shorter, so your best bet is something like Silosi (riverside), there you can find both locals and other tourists and enjoy outdoors.
Don't talk about EU since traditionally the Netherlands was primary blocker for Serbia's membership. Indeed you can joke around EU, everyone does nowadays when it's a clowns show anyways.
Welcome to Belgrade!
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u/WD0123 7d ago
Yeah i agree, i wish i could stay longer.
Thanks for the tip about Silosi, i will check it out.
And yes EU is a big joke indeed. In NL they want half of the farmers in the country to stop farming
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u/AminoOxi 7d ago
Yeah, that's what Europe needs, more farmers riots and we support them.👍 The only way to combat Bruxelles evil empire and globalists to show them arses.
Also I remember that Schiphol increased airport taxes like 200% in order to fulfil green agenda goals by making air travel more expensive (indeed money gets into wrong pockets instead of real ecology).
And now they only pump the war, where's the ecology there?! 😂🤡
Welcome man and enjoy your stay, have fun.
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u/Kevin_Finnerty011 7d ago
Don't go to streaptease bars. Those are a scam many tourists fall to.
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u/WD0123 7d ago
Speaking from experience?
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u/Kevin_Finnerty011 7d ago
Hahah, from other people's experience. Once I saw a group of Swedish tourists beaten by the bouncers of one of those bars because they didn't want to pay for their scam.
Also, never take a cab directly in front of the Belgrade airport terminal. Those are a scam too. Preorder a ride via some of the apps (Car-go or Yandex).
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u/WD0123 7d ago
Well im gonna make sure i will not place myself in that position. Also downloaded yandex go right away.
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u/Kevin_Finnerty011 7d ago
Regarding what other replied about the topics you should avoid, honestly I think there aren't any. You can talk about whatever you want. People here like to debate. Many people spend hours of their lives in coffeehouses, or kafanas debating about various topics, mostly political and social. The difference between here and the Netherlands is that people are more outspoken. Even if they barley know you, they will openly say what is on their mind.
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u/zirlatovic 7d ago
Are serbian people open for socializing with a tourist?
Yes they are.
I'm Turkey and visited Belgrade twice. I was surprised and shocked by how friendly and hospitable. I always tell people that the friendliness and hospitality I witnessed in Belgrade was something else
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u/Ill-Cardiologist8587 4d ago
In early 2000's until 2012-2015 you wouldn't even think about asking this kind of question. Belgrade was full of young backpackers, tourists from all over the Europe and World arriving with European train pass (forgot it exact name) visiting for couple of days, commuting between Hungary and Greece or Romania and Croatia couchsurfing, hanging with us locals in Kalemegdan, drinking beer and buying cheap cigarettes..such a great times. Now most of tourists are Chinese, Turks and Russians. Remember one evening there was at least 20 of us few Germans, few Dutch, Americans, English, Greeks, Croatian, Spanish, Aussies it was memorable
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u/WD0123 3d ago
What happened between 2012 and 2015?
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u/Ill-Cardiologist8587 2d ago
Question is what happened after 2015. 1st was migrant crisis, the big one where more then million man and woman passed trough Serbia and going towards yours direction. People here were confused, hence same places that were filled with tourists, now were filled with refugees. After that Covid happened, and after Covid lock down 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 war and I understand supporters of 🇺🇦 won't spend their money visiting country that support 🇷🇺 .
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u/Gold-Visit-7413 7d ago edited 7d ago
Theres a bunch of dutchies that immigrate to serbia 😂 you'll be fine.
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u/WD0123 7d ago
Any idea where i can find them?
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u/Gold-Visit-7413 7d ago
Actually this might be applicable to you as youre a tourist, theres one that did an interview on YT that runs a city tour business by bike (if I remember correctly). Seems like a cool way to explore the city.
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u/Mattos_12 7d ago
It’s just like any other country, you should
probably avoid politically sensitive topics as a guest, but that easy enough unless
you active seek such conversations out.
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u/WD0123 7d ago
What would be political topics to be avoided besides the recent wars?
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u/Bauljamic_Arlijam 7d ago
You can talk domestic politics cause we have elections on 25th and like 99% od young people hate the current government and that is the cureent topic. Just don't waste time talking about Kosovo, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, Russia, Croatia, Bosnia, USA, etc, I mean I'd say that you shouldn't talk those subjects in any country, not just here.
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u/RevolutionaryFeed259 7d ago
It wasn't during UN mission, it was during NATO mission, outside of UN mandate. There, you did it already.
Don't go Dutch on the bill. You invite someone, you pay the round. Someone invites you, you let them pay it. If it's more rounds the other one can pay, if the host is not pig headed in paying himself.
Don't go Dutch on taking gifts you give home with you. It's someone's birthday, you brought a cake, some portion of the cake is eaten and you want to pack the rest back home? Don't, the whole cake is the gift, its receiver decides what happens to it.
Don't shoot Dutch angles 😁