Belgrade Waterfront Marina & expansion

About Belgrade Waterfront Marina & expansion

By the ULTIMATE Belgrade Editorial Team

The next chapter of Belgrade Waterfront brings the city’s largest marina, an opera house under the great concrete dome of Hall 1 at the Belgrade Fair, a 120-metre tower and the Belgrade Eye Ferris wheel to the banks of the Sava.

The back story: a dome that amazed the world

The site of the new district is the Belgrade Fair, one of the boldest buildings of postwar Yugoslavia. The city’s first fairground, opened in 1937 across the Sava at Staro Sajmište, was turned into a concentration camp during the Second World War and never reused. In 1953 the city chose a new site at Šest topola, the Six Poplars, a popular bathing beach on the right bank of the Sava, and gave architect Milorad Pantović almost free rein to design something modern.

Work began in June 1955, with the engineers Branko Žeželj and Milan Krstić, and the fair opened on 23 August 1957 with an international exhibition of technology that drew 1,150,000 visitors in eleven days, twice the population of Belgrade at the time. Its centrepiece, Hall 1, is crowned by a prestressed concrete dome 109 metres across, at the time one of the largest in the world, and Pantović gave it the silhouette of a Byzantine cupola.

Hall 1 is crowned by a prestressed concrete dome 109 metres across, at the time one of the largest in the world.

Hall 1 became part of the city’s life. The first television news of Radio Television Belgrade was broadcast from the fair in 1958. Radivoj Korać scored 99 points in a single European Cup game here in 1965, and the dome has hosted EuroBasket, Yugoslav rock bands, Eric Clapton and Iron Maiden. It was declared a cultural monument in 2009.

What is planned

In January 2026 Belgrade Waterfront presented the plans for Belgrade Waterfront Marina, a new district on the right bank of the Sava between the Ada Bridge and the future pedestrian bridge. Hall 1 is to become an opera house and cultural centre. Plans described in 2026 show three stages under the dome: a main opera stage, a smaller stage for theatre and ballet, and a cabaret. In front of it will be a new central square for open-air events, with an underground car park beneath.

Beside it will be the city’s largest marina, with a yacht club, a large outdoor pool and restaurant, and a 120-metre mixed-use tower. Across the river, between the pedestrian bridge and Gazela, the Belgrade Eye Ferris wheel is planned on the New Belgrade bank. The Sava Promenade will continue 2.4 km to Ada Ciganlija with three rows of trees and a cycle path, and a Green Corridor linear park will link the marina with Topčider Park. Halls 2 and 3 will get new public uses through an architectural competition.

What it means for Belgrade

The fairs themselves are moving to a new fairground at the EXPO 2027 site in Surčin, and the old riverbank will open up as a cultural and leisure district. It promises a home for Serbian opera that matches the great opera cities of Central Europe, and a riverside that finally reaches Ada Ciganlija. The details are still being finalised, and completion dates have not yet been published.

The marina district in depth

From Belgrade Waterfront’s announcement of January 2026, press reports and the history of the Belgrade Fair.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Belgrade Waterfront Marina & expansion before you go.