For the current offer of serviced apartments in Belville, click on the buttonShort term rentals in Belvile
Once nothing more than an echelon of gray, sulky, depressive, brutalist, gargantuan commie-blocks, criss-crossed by wide perpendicular boulevards, New Belgrade’s landscape is increasingly spruced up with vivaciously coloured, contemporary residential hives that change the scenery of the whole city. The area of New Belgrade closer to the Sava river has seen a tremendous rise in the number of residential block in the past year only, but there is one that started it all and can be said, to have truly raised the bar of the standard of living in Belgrade.
It’s Belgrade’s own Belville.
Even now, seven years since it was put to use, Belville is still a topic of many a newspaper column (or at least far more often than any other civil engineering undertaking from the past decade). Whether it is the profile of its investors or its, somewhat forced, exclusivity, Belville is an epitome of the sour grapes syndrome. Online critics of the 14 colossal blocks, call the buildings ugly, the masonry mediocre, the owners embezzlers, the flats a bad investment and a bundle of other similar arguments that aim to discredit the place. It’s hard to escape the impression that even an innuendo of the irregularities regarding Belville has to be accompanied with significant Schadenfreude of those who criticize it.
It should be noted, though, that it’s even harder to find a critic that actually lives in Belville.
Belville in the making 1
Given the period, and more importantly the surroundings where it came to life, the objections on the account of the residential superiority complex (as it was aptly named by a local journalist), seem unjust. The way of thinking about Belville, that we’re inclined towards, was perhaps best summarized by one of the long term residents:
Find me a new-build in Belgrade, with 5 flats per floor, 2 cozy elevators that work 24/7, (or even when the power is down) and take you directly from the garage to the entrance, with comparable number of parking spots, with the ceiling height 2.7 meters…Or even better, with optical cables and Ethernet connection that will have enough throughput in 50 years time, the insulation in the rank of YTONG and such immaculate up-keeping of the building itself as well as the surroundings… full time cleaners working 8 hours a day in each of the tenements, and the flowers and grass that actually grow in front of the building Of course Belville is not exactly a dream come true, but at the moment, it’s best of the best that Belgrade can offer.
If you add to it all, that Belvile is perhaps the only residential complex in Belgrade that has a full disabled access, the wheeler-dealing stories perish like airy souffle in the shadow of a serious construction project. Let alone that its simple forms, and bright colours most surely prefigure something discernibly better than its close commie-block surroundings.
When an average inhabitant of Serbia reads about complaints of the residents of Belville, it incredibly resembles one of those First World Memes. Namely, a great concern was the fact that the red tarmac safety track does not cover all of the access points to Belville, so during the winter it gets slippery and potentially dangerous. In comparison, the residents of older parts of Belgrade during the winter months face not only the danger of potentially lethal icicles, but also of sudden ghasts of wind, as pieces of the dilapidated facades have a tendency of falling down upon random passers by when it happens.
If New Belgrade is a city of expatriates, as it was jokingly called in 1950s when the first generations of inhabitants (mainly from provincial parts of Yugoslavia) entered their newly built residences, then Belville most certainly belongs to those who truly deserve the ex-pat designation and are far better off than the bulk of the population of our capital. Ethnic diversity is very prominent in Belville, and the fact itself, may be that sadly necessary confirmation that comes from the outside world, for the locals to accept it as a place of value and source of pride instead of envy. It does not come as a surprise that Belville seems to be a preferred variant of corporate accommodation.
In addition to the renown Delta City Shopping Mall, that stands as a part of the neighbourhood and infuriates the residents during Shopping Nights, there is a myriad of other commercial sites within the complex that pretty much eliminate the need leave Belville. A couple of fine dining establishments, an array of beauty parlours, private health centers, educational and banking establishments and even a Thai massage salon all paint a pretty picture of the standard of living there.
Airport city – a business park
The blocks surrounding Belville are a consumerist paradise of their own (at least in Serbian terms). On the eastern side of the complex is the Belgarde Flea Market that still represents a viable place to buy all sorts of cheap goods. A bit to the west of Belville are two hyper-marts (IDEA and RODA), a biiig DIY store and a bundle of other retail outlets – it’s kind of guaranteed you will botch a bargain on something around there, just to make a walk worthwhile.
But to return to the subject – Belville Vacation rentals are certainly sought for and stand at the top with regards to quality. The uniform quality of the base of each of them is not a precondition of uniformity of interior design. Out of the 1858 flats altogether in Belville there are 27 different variations in terms of their size and structure. Each of the flats, however, boasts a ceiling height of 2.7 meteres and 2.4 for doors, whereas the windows are uniformly 1.8 meters in height.
Offer of Belgrade Vacation Rentals in Belville currently boasts slightly more than a dozen of, predominantly, one-bedroom apartments. Their floor area varies between forty to seventy square meters, but the prices span in a small range – between 40 and 50 euros for a night. In spite of the aggressive advertising campaign, which stated that Belville had more parking space than tenants, not all of them of have a parking spot of their own. Moreover, during shopping night in delta city, parking in and around Belville becomes an epic endeavor that makes parking in Zone 1 look like . The ones that do have it are usually surcharged and it-s more often at the mercy of elements than in the cuddled warmth of the buildings garage.
In a market as dynamic as this, it is becoming a tedious and somewhat wasted effort to make top 10 lists that would have a purpose in the long run. Constant changes, new entries and Half Cuban Eights, have brought about the instability of Menthos in a can of coke. The tendency to make a fine lasting differentiation of the elements of the offer is still futile but spite of all that, we are putting a chosen few on the pedestal of vacation rentals in Belvile. If they’re still be in our offer at the time you read this text, they will hardly be considered bad.
