8 tips that will help you rent an apartment in Belgrade

Renting an apartment seems to be an easy and simple matter that could be done with two mouse clicks. Basically it is, but there are always few more details that you should keep in mind in order to be completely prepared for the procedure that is required for the check-in. This will help not only the agencies to provide better service but also travelers to complete everything quick and easy. 

Having had a lot of experience in work with our clients, we would like to highlight some of the points that we think should be additionally checked. 

1. General information

Whether you are renting an apartment through the website of the agency or some other booking platform, please always check every information regarding the place that you wish to rent. Consider any aspect that you might find important such as location, size, price, conveniences, amenities etc. Study the photographs that represent a certain place. Before clicking please double check, so you don’t get stressed out when you arrive. Sometimes people are not sure whether they have seen the right photograph, they might have forgotten the correct price or perhaps they booked one apartment when they actually wanted another one. This can be very frustrating for them as well as for the agency that wishes to provide best service to their guests. 

2. Payment method

When booking an apartment please make sure that you are familiar with payment options. Some platforms will ask for your credit card number only because of the reservation, but that does not necessarily mean that you have paid your accommodation to the agency. Some agencies do not accept credit cards and will ask you to pay in cash upon your arrival. Always look for that information when booking a place to stay. If you are not sure, you can always contact the agency to find out the exact form of payment. 

3.    Tourist tax

In some cities you will be obliged to pay an additional fee such as tourist tax and its amount varies from place to place. In Belgrade, it is charged per person per day. We have had many situations when our guests were not expecting this, although they were explicitly informed about it. This guides us to our next tip. 

4. Contact with agency 

After booking an apartment via third parties such as booking platforms you should expect an e-mail from the agency that rents apartments. It will provide you with confirmation of registration and additional information about your stay. Please make sure to read it all carefully. If you are in doubt or have any questions at all do not hesitate to write and ask for more details. Discussion and further clarification will help both parties to better organize everything. In this way, unpredictable situations will be minimized and that will result in better quality of your time on holiday. 

5. Arrival

After booking a place to stay and correspondence with your host agency, you will have to set a date and time of your arrival. Usually someone will wait for you in front of the apartment. It is of great importance to make an agreement about the time and to appropriately inform your hosts about any changes or postponement that might occur. Please have in mind that some agencies are very busy and that time is precious. There are other guests that are arriving and departing all the time so you probably wouldn’t like to wait for your check-in. Finally, if you expect other people to respect your time, please make sure to do the same. Please exchange contact numbers with the agency or host so that potential changes could be quickly adjusted. 


6. Apartment

Upon your arrival, please look at the apartment and check if everything is like you have required: space, size, linen, towels and other things that are at your disposal. You are not obliged to pay if you decide that it is not something that you want although some agencies will require deposit when making reservation and it is not refundable in case of cancellation. If you find everything ok then it is time for the check-in procedure. 

7. Checking in

This should be very quick and easy if you read everything that agency has informed you about. It includes payment (if you are paying in cash) and registration. You will be asked to provide your personal documents for registration just like in a hotel, hostel or any other place of residence. As 
a tourist, you are obliged to register your residence in Belgrade and to pay tourist tax.

Before you arrive, check the currency in which you have to pay so that you could complete the procedure quickly. It would also help prepare the exact amount, so you don’t have to wait for any change.  

After this, you will set up the departure time so that your host could come and check the apartment and pick the keys up. Exchange telephone numbers in case you wish to change your time. 

8. Unpredictable situations

After all, people are just people and anything could happen. Sometimes, a previous guest has broken or damaged an item in the apartment you have booked. In that case, you will be probably transferred to another one. Also, some people might decide to change the arrival or departure time without giving information about this in advance so everything changes in the schedule and might cause a confusion and overlap. In any case, both parties should be patient and reasonable so that everything could be resolved as quickly as possible. 

Please keep in mind these tips when traveling and renting apartments so that you can enjoy your time to the fullest. We hope we have helped you a little to know what you can expect. Keep calm and enjoy whenever you go :) 

Importance of cultural heritage and architecture around our apartments in Belgrade.

At City Break Belgrade Apartments we always try to provide you with the best service and the best information concerning our apartments. As we are also travelers, we know how important it is to be informed about the place you are visiting and staying in. We mean not only the most important cultural monuments, but also the smaller ones like spatial cultural and historic ensembles that are equally important.

We are proud to offer you accommodation in Belgrade in exactly such an important locations.

We have already written about bars in Belgrade that will make you feel like a local. In this post we will try to update you with the historical importance of Belgrade neighborhood where you might sleep:)

Houses in Đure Daničića street. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1i8CEgO

Kopitareva gradina is a small square in the city center located between the streets of Džordž Vašington, Šafarikova, Jelena Ćetković, Đura Daničić and Hilandarska. It was first shaped in the early twentieth century in the garden of archbishop Mihailo.

The partitioning of garden began around 1900 and family and ground-floor houses began to be built on those plots. Taking into account the period in which they were made, houses were designed in the spirit of classicism and secessionist architecture which was characteristic for the development of Belgrade at that time. The memorial qualities of Kopitareva gradina are materialized in the preserved architectural and city planning concept of this small-town ambience and cultural-historic importance of the houses.  What is most interesting is that Kopitareva gradina has preserved the authentic atmosphere of Belgrade at the beginning of XX century. It has been declared a cultural property and protected by law in 1968. * 

Houses on the corner of Kopitareva gradina and Jelene Ćetković street, 1966. House on the right is Jovan Cvijić museum. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1rfcEWy

Many important people of that time lived in this area, including Jovan Cvijić, famous geographer. His family house is now a museum, which is not very much advertised, but it is very close to our apartments Klishe zen and Radio Funky located in Hilandarska street numbers 4 and 5. Click here to see a map of this area.
Hilandarska is also an important part of this neighborhood. At the beginning of the street, the corner with Svetogorska, there is a building of former Artisans Club. It was built around 1931 to unite all artisan institutions . Since 1947, it has been the home of Radio Belgrade, first radio station in former Yugoslavia.

Artisan Club now Radio Belgrade, around 1933. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1hhb4xZ

 If you look to the left, you will probably notice a lot of high school students in the street. That is because they attend the secondary commercial school, the building  of which is the legacy of Evgenija Naumović - Kiki dedicated to her parents Nikola and Marija Naumović, the wealthy merchant family. This was highly regarded school after WWII.

House of Laza K. Lazarević, Hilandarska 7. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1njTUYo

Next to the building of Radio Funky apartment, there is a house of Laza K. Lazarević, famous Serbian writer and psychiatrist. Today, his house is Children's Department of Belgrade City Library.

As you walk along Hilandarska, at the corner with Đura Daničić street, there are two interesting buildings. One is  almost a century old and is now the residence of the Brazilian Embassy and across is the former house of Serbian architect Milan Antonović, who was involved with the architecture of houses in Kopitareva gradina.  

Residence of the Brazilian Embassy, Hilandarska 9. Photo credit:http://bit.ly/1hhnJRp

Residence of the Brazilian Embassy. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1gNf8ql

House of architect Milan Antonović. Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1nCAqvA

Talking about this important cultural heritage, one can only conclude that every building, every house, every neighborhood, every street, every corner and every space has a story to tell. We our proud to present you with one and host you in such important surrounding. 

Always keep your eyes wide open when exploring the vicinity of the place you are staying at.

Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1gNgAsK

* Note: Most of the information was taken from various web sites which are listed at the end of the text, although you can find additional information on linked words. Some are only adapted for the purposes of this article. Please keep in mind that these are not checked by the author of this article nor does the author take credit for them. The purpose of this article is to provide general overview of the cultural and historical heritage of a part of the Old town municipality in Belgrade. There are a lot of other important buildings in nearby which we didn't mention, such as theater Atelje 212 for example. We strongly encourage any individual to independently engage in deeper studies and research if they find it interesting.  


Reference: 

http://beogradskonasledje.rs/kd/zavod/stari_grad/kopitareva_gradina.html, visited multiple times in April 2014. 
http://beogradskonasledje.rs/kd/zavod/stari_grad/zanatski_dom.html, visited multiple times in April 2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopitareva_Gradina, visited multiple times in 2014.
http://arhiva.scd-lunjina.org/dobrotvori/index.html, visited multiple times in 2014.

City Break Apartments interview with Akiko Maeda Jordanović

Belgrade can be very inspiring, especially in the spring. You can find and discover amazing people that live here. That is why City Break Apartments decided to surprise you and introduce you with interesting people that decided to come and live in Belgrade. 

This time we present you Akiko Maeda Jordanović

Can you tell us something about yourself?

I am Akiko Maeda Jordanović. I am from Japan, married to Serbian. We met through the Internet. I came here about seven years ago to live with him. I am working as a web designer, mostly for Japanese companies as a freelancer. Now I am making my web site to write about Serbia, especially Belgrade, for travelers from Japan.

Are they interested in visiting Belgrade?

First of all, Japanese have a prejudice with Serbian image. They have an impression that this is a dangerous country and always ask is it dangerous. They get this connotation from TV because they see news about hooligans or gay parade incidents. They only have this impression and no other information so they feel that it is a dangerous country. That’s why I wanted to describe that it is really not.

Are you satisfied with your life in Belgrade?

Yeah, it is totally different from Japan. It is very interesting because every single thing I have been doing in Japan and here is different.

How satisfied are you with the representation of Japanese culture in Serbia? Admirers of Japanese culture organize various events every year and also Kendo is very popular sport. Do you take participation in this things?

I visited “kendo”, “judo”,  “ninjutsu” “karate”, “aikido” and “sumo” clubs in Belgrade to write about their activities.
Especially, “ninjutsu” club was interesting for me, because I have never seen ninjutsu club in my town.
It is good to see that foreign people are interested in some of our culture and try to continue it by their own.

What is your favorite street in Belgrade?  

I like Kosančićev Venac. It is nice. Zemun also, totally different than rest of Belgrade. I like Dorćol, Vračar and here Stari Grad. I like to visit each block and walk in narrow streets because it is interesting to take pictures here. I want to describe each block and remember each name. This is Hilandarska right? From Hilandar...

Street names are interesting because some have many names in it like “Vojvode Mišića”, “Cara Dušana” or someone’s name. It is interesting - many names. It is different from my country.

Where do you mostly spend you free time in Belgrade?

I am mostly walking by the river. I live near Sava Centar. I start from there and pass Brankov bridge and go to Zemun. It takes 1.5 hour and for this season it is very nice to walk. I see that many Serbians are walking. They care very much for their health.

What would you recommend to all the people who are visiting Belgrade?

First general things like Trg Republike and to walk through Knez Mihailova to Kalemegdan. St. Sava Temple, Zemun...

Last time I went to the football stadium with Japanese guest because he wanted to see some match. I liked it very much. It was a nice day and its not the same when you watch it on TV. It’s very nice, I think I will go again. There is a Japanese player in “Sloboda”. I saw him for the first time and it makes me more curious. Japanese have many interest in football in Belgrade so they want to visit some places and some want to visit Đoković restaurant.