Photo: Petar Milošević · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
🇷🇸 Serbia
Belgrado
A cheap capital with round-the-clock nightlife and a tech community that has grown enormously in recent years.
Score breakdown
Cost of living
8.5One of the cheapest European capitals for living well.
Weight 25%
Internet & work
8.5Fast, cheap fibre in almost any flat.
Weight 20%
Nomad community
7.5A growing community, still smaller than in Lisbon or Prague.
Weight 15%
Safety
8.0Very safe at night, with occasional pickpocketing.
Weight 15%
Weather
6.5Very hot summers and grey winters.
Weight 15%
Paperwork & visa
6.0Temporary residence takes patience and in-person paperwork.
Weight 10%
What it really costs
Prices checked on the ground by Zabelers. Each line shows when it was last verified.
One-bedroom flat (Vračar)
900 EUR/mes
Furnished, one-year lease.
2026-09 · Nekretnine.rs
Monthly coworking
18.000 RSD/mes
Hot desk with wide access hours.
2026-09 · Impact Hub Belgrade
Lunch menu
850 RSD
Main course and a drink.
2026-09 · Numbeo
Transport pass
3.400 RSD/mes
Bus, tram and trolleybus.
2026-09 · JKP Naplata prevozne usluge
500 Mbps fibre
3.500 RSD/mes
No long commitment.
2026-09 · SBB
Where to live
Vračar
800–1.100 EUR/mesGood for: Cafés, parks and a local feel.
The catch: One of the priciest areas.
Dorćol
850–1.200 EUR/mesGood for: You can walk everywhere.
The catch: Weekend night noise.
Savamala
700–950 EUR/mesGood for: A creative area by the river.
The catch: Some still run-down stretches.
Nuevo Belgrado
650–900 EUR/mesGood for: Modern flats and more space.
The catch: A cold, tower-block atmosphere.
Where to work
Coworkings
- Impact Hub Belgrade~18.000 RSD/mes
Central venue with lots of community events.
- Nova Iskra~20.000 RSD/mes
Very geared to creative and product profiles.
Cafés with wifi
- KoffeinCafé ~250 RSD
Specialty coffee with plugs and good wifi.
- KafeterijaCafé ~230 RSD
Several locations; best in the morning.
Time zone: UTC+1 (UTC+2 in summer). Comfortable with Europe and with the US East Coast in the afternoon.
What living here is really like
Editorial synthesis of public experiences
What comes up most about Belgrade is surprise at how far money goes: affordable rent, eating out almost daily and a social life that never switches off. In exchange, most paperwork happens in person and in Serbian.
- Best part:
- Low cost of living and an intense social life.
- Worst part:
- Bureaucracy is slow and barely digitised.
Sources: Nomads.com — Belgrado · Numbeo — Belgrado
Editorial synthesis of public experiences
The second common pattern is the technical profile who arrives for three months and finds a large tech scene, with weekly meetups and offices of international companies. The real barrier is usually language outside the centre.
- Best part:
- A tech scene with constant meetups.
- Worst part:
- Little English is spoken outside the centre.
Sources: Startit — comunidad tecnológica serbia · Numbeo — Belgrado
Day to day
- Internet
- SBB or Yettel fibre at 200–1,000 Mbps, with good latency to Europe and low prices.
- Safety
- Generally safe, even at night; the usual issue is pickpocketing on transport and in nightlife areas.
- Healthcare
- Affordable, good-quality private healthcare; a private consultation runs 3,000–6,000 RSD.
- SIM / eSIM
- eSIM with Yettel, A1 or MTS from 1,500 RSD a month with generous data.
- Best season
- May, June and September: good weather, full terraces and none of the July heat.
- Community
- A growing international community, with lots of tech profiles and long stays.
Living here legally
Visa
Many passports get 90 days visa-free; to stay longer you apply for temporary residence, which now includes a remote-worker route.
Check your visa →Tax
You become a tax resident after 183 days; the lump-sum self-employed regime is simple and lightly taxed.
Flights & connections
BEG connects with most of Europe plus Istanbul and Dubai; Air Serbia and Wizz Air offer the lowest fares.
Lisbon vs. similar cities
Transparency
Last checked: 2026-09-16
Official sources
- Ministerio del Interior de Serbia — extranjería
- Administración Tributaria de Serbia
- Numbeo — Belgrado
- Nomads.com — Belgrado
Prices are checked against the dated sources shown. Editorial experience summaries cite their public sources; verified Zabeler accounts are identified separately. Official procedures always take precedence.