top picks for belgrade’s november fest season

This article was developed within the program Venture an Idea funded by the USAID.

 

Belgrade is brimming at this time of year with concerts, performances, festivals, and other events organized all over the city. Particularly the festivals; there's quite an unusual number of them in the latter part of November.

So, if you feel like stretching your legs but have nothing planned for the next week, here are a couple of interesting suggestions.

Belgrade Cat Fest

The first to kick off is the Belgrade Cat Fest, where only the region's most exquisite and ubiquitous cats gather for two days of meowing, purring, and posturing. It's the first of its name in the city, so we don't really know what to expect other than cats, cat owners, cat lovers, and… cats. If you're interested, the festival is taking place at the Belgrade Fair this weekend.

Dates: November 19th - 20th.

Gamescon

Another fest that's taking place inside the Belgrade Fair complex – albeit a much bigger event with fewer cats – is Gamescon gaming and pop culture festival. The biggest fest of its kind in the Balkans, it's three days of gaming tournaments followed by coinciding pop culture activities like cosplay competition, fencing tour, and boardgame challenges.

You can follow the tours or test your skill & mettle at CS: GO, DOTA 2, PUBG, Valorant, and FIFA 23, or snatch trinkets from its very own Market Square. Oh, and Gamescon has its own Escape Room that's supposed to be virtually inescapable. Just saying.

Dates: November 25th – 27th

Whisky Fair

Similar date, different venue, Belgrade Whisky Fair returns for the fifth time after 2 years of inactivity. The last weekend in November at Infinity Event Center is reserved for the beloved aqua vitae. You can try more than 100 expressions by 60+ whisky brands worldwide at the fair.

Single malts, blends, bourbons, Japanese, or world whiskies - all 100 + will be available for sipping with friends. Expect a whisky workshop or two and a couple of barbers shops, too. Yup, if you or any of your friends sport a beard, they can have it done at the fair.

Dates: November 26th – 27th

Parallel Vision – Film Music Festival

After cats, gaming, and whisky lovers, here's a little something for film and music fans. Blending the two arts together, Parallel Vision festival is screening 10 documentaries and feature films with music as their common thread. It opened up with Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (2021), with features like The Beatles and India (2021) or Other Music (2019) – an exciting story of one of NYC's most emblematic indie record shops – still to come.

Dates: November 17th – 23rd

 

 

This article is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this program are the responsibility of Nova Iskra and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.