The Ada Bridge and the bridges of Belgrade: the back story

About The Ada Bridge and the bridges of Belgrade: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Belgrade Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Belgrade stands where the Sava meets the Danube, and its bridges tell the city’s story. The newest landmark is the Ada Bridge, opened on 1 January 2012, whose 200-metre pylon rises from the tip of Ada Ciganlija.

A city between two rivers

Belgrade grew on a ridge above the meeting of the Sava and the Danube, and for most of its history the rivers were crossed by boat. Bridges came with the railways and the modern city: the first railway bridge over the Sava opened in 1884, and the Pančevo Bridge, the first road bridge over the Danube, in 1935.

The Ada Bridge

The Ada Bridge crosses the Sava at the tip of Ada Ciganlija, the river island that is Belgrade’s summer beach, linking Čukarica with New Belgrade. Its design, by Viktor Markelj and Peter Gabrijelčič of the Slovenian firm Ponting, won the competition for the crossing. It was built from 2008 to 2011 and opened at midnight on 1 January 2012.

At night the Ada Bridge’s single white pylon is lit above the Sava, and from Ada Ciganlija its cables look like the strings of a vast instrument.

It is a cable-stayed bridge with a single pylon, 200 metres high, standing on the strengthened tip of the island. The bridge is 996 metres long, with a main span of 376 metres over the river, and it carries roads, footpaths and cycle paths and, since July 2019, trams.

Seeing it

The best views are from the water’s edge on Ada Ciganlija, from the Sava quays in New Belgrade and from the river itself on a boat trip. At dusk the pylon is lit above the Sava, one of the finest sights in modern Belgrade.

The bridges to come

Belgrade is still building. Beside the Belgrade Waterfront, the old railway bridge of 1884 is being reborn as a green crossing for walkers and cyclists. A new steel arch is rising over the Sava where the Old Sava Bridge stood, and downstream on the Danube the design is complete for a third road bridge at Ada Huja.

Our advice: cycle the Sava quays to Ada Ciganlija in the late afternoon, swim in the lake, and stay for the moment the Ada Bridge lights up.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The Ada Bridge and the bridges of Belgrade: the back story before you go.