Friday

1. The Blue Danube, 4 p.m.

Kalemegdan Park is Belgrade’s birthplace. Filling much of the promontory where the Danube and Sava Rivers converge, the green sprawl was settled millenniums ago by the Celts and bears traces of many successive peoples and empires. For views and history, enter at the north end of Knez Mihailova Street and head left. Along the clockwise circuit, crenelated stone lookout points offer views of the Sava and the waterside party rafts that flare to life at night — notably Hot Mess (with its own swimming pool) and 20/44 (a retro clubhouse of electro music) — before the path leads into an old citadel, built mostly in the 18th century. The grassy grounds contain a Roman well, 18th-century Austrian clock tower, Ottoman mausoleum, 19th-century Slavic half-timbered mansion and a military museum surrounded by old tanks and artillery: an almost-full retrospective of Serbia’s past.

2. Art and Commerce, 6 p.m.

Everything you want to buy is for sale along Knez Mihailova. Lined with bookshops, souvenir emporiums, clothing chains and newspaper kiosks, the teeming pedestrian thoroughfare is also a forum for amateur artists, street musicians and that guy who makes enormous soap bubbles. Look up, too, because the ornate facades of the many 19th- and early-20th-century buildings form a textbook of architectural styles, including neo-Classical, Neo-Renaissance and Romantic. The Secessionist building at No. 42, built in the 1920s as a bank, was converted several years ago into the Zepter Museum, a vault of 20th-century and contemporary art. The tortured male forms in Vladimir Velickovic’s canvases show his debt to Francis Bacon, while the tilted perspectives and angles of Dragana Stanacev’s drawings induce vertigo. Abstract styles also abound, from the queasy color sloshes of Slobodan Trajkovic’s paintings to the thick, earthy layers of paint on Vera Bozickovic Popovic’s 1960s and 1970s works.

3. Factory Meets Farmhouse, 9 p.m.

Grandma would be proud. Upstart Belgrade restaurateurs are championing the Balkan cuisine of their elders, infusing it with 21st-century ingredients and artistry. Witness Ambar, one of many chic restaurant-bars in the Beton Hala development along the Sava River. Inside and outside the soaring industrial space — with old-school touches like half-timbered walls and a wood-plank ceiling — young professionals indulge in pre-clubbing dinners that might start with kaymak (a soft, buttery cheese) flavored with hazelnut and porcini mushrooms; bacon-wrapped prunes from central Serbia; or grilled lamb skewers with sesame seeds and eggplant aioli. After, grilled meats satisfy traditionalists, while mains like salty-crisp duck with sweet beet salsa and pea purée hit contemporary notes. Balkan wines, including a dark-berry Serbian Prokupac red, accompany it all. A three-course dinner for two, without drinks, is about 4,500 dinars (about $40).

4. Under the Bridge, 11 p.m.

By day, the gentrifying Savamala district under the Brankov Bridge beckons with art galleries, new wave barbershops and cultural centers like Mikser House, a former industrial space with products by Serbian designers. Come evening, the bar scene features spots like Ben Akiba, a sultry, red, candlelit bohemian bar with vintage furniture and a drinks list that encompasses everything from Brooklyn Lager (480 dinars) to Tetka Bosiljka (absinthe, apple liqueur, Passoa, basil and apple juice; 550 dinars). Deli 57 is a tiny, minimalist-modern bagel, sandwich and burger joint that at night becomes a packed, D.J.-fueled dance party. Serbian indie brewing provides the buzz, including spicy Supernova IPA by Kabinet (390 dinars).