A kafana is a courtroom where everyone testifies and nobody objects, and rakija administers the oath. Belgrade has kept the sessions running for two centuries: the oldest room on this road opened in 1823 and has never closed. Five of them, and one of the five is a long cab south to a hall full of partisan flags, which is the point at which the evening stops being about drink.
- 1 · The Cold Open
Znak Pitanja „?“
Belgrade's oldest tavern, open since 1823, and it is called the Question Mark because of an argument. It sits directly opposite the cathedral, the owner wanted to name it after the church, the church objected, and he hung a question mark over the door as a temporary answer while the matter was settled. The matter was never settled. Inside are the original low ceilings, low Ottoman tables and stools that make everyone sit like they are about to be told something, and the šljivovica comes in a small glass filled properly.
est. 1823, and the argument is unresolved · from noon · verified Aug 2026
- 2 · The Detour
Šumatovac
On the square named after Politika, the newspaper whose building stands on it, which tells you who has been drinking here since the name was first written down in 1906. A century of journalists, printers and people waiting for someone to come off shift, at plain tables, with the food a working kafana serves rather than the food a tourist expects. It is the least performed room on this road. Order a beer and a plate of something grilled and listen to whatever argument is running at the next table.
on the record since 1906 · day till late · verified Aug 2026
- 3 · The Anchor
Tri Šešira
Skadarlija is Belgrade's bohemian quarter for one specific reason: in 1901 the city demolished the Dardaneli tavern, and the entire nightlife of Belgrade simply picked itself up and moved onto these cobbles. It landed here. Tri Šešira opened in 1864 in a building where a craft workshop had traded under a sign of three pleated hats, and it kept the hats. The poet Đura Jakšić lived on this street and called it the wine spring. The tambura players still work table to table, the roast pork still comes all night, and the waiters have watched ministers cry.
est. 1864, and the quarter moved to it · dinner till late · verified Aug 2026
- 4 · The Wildcard
Kafana Pavle Korčagin
A cab ride south, and worth it. It is named after the hero of a Soviet novel about a man who gives everything to the revolution and ends up blind and paralysed still writing, which should tell you the register. Every wall is dense with partisan flags, portraits, medals and photographs, the tables are long and shared, and by the second carafe the strangers opposite are co-defendants. Live music every night and nobody leaves early. This is where a Belgrade evening stops being about the drink.
a hall of partisan flags · dinner till late · verified Aug 2026
live music every night, and nobody leaves early
- 5 · The Last Call
Rakia Bar
Back into the centre for the summing up. This is the newest room on the road by a century and it earns its place by doing one thing seriously: about fifty rakijas by the glass, quince, walnut, honey, apricot, plum, poured by people who will tell you which villages they came from if you ask. After four kafanas you will have opinions about rakija, and this is where you find out whether they were correct. Finish on the apricot. Bed is ten minutes uphill.
fifty rakijas, and no ceremony · till late · verified Aug 2026 · 🏨 the night ends at Hotel Moskva
🎁 What we left off, and why. Šešir Moj stands fifty-four metres from Tri Šešira, and Dva Jelena and Ima Dana are on the same four hundred metres of cobbles. Skadarlija is one street, and putting two of your five stops on it would be spending a fifth of the night walking eight seconds. Take a second one while you are there, obviously. The tambura players move between them anyway, and on a good night so does everyone else.