Great War Island

What it is

Great War Island is an uninhabited river island at the point where the Sava flows into the Danube, inside Belgrade's Zemun municipality. It is triangular and covers 2.11 square kilometres of low, often marshy ground that floods when the Danube rises. The island did not always exist in its current form: it began as a sandbank recorded in the 14th century and had grown into a full island by the mid-15th century, and it is still growing today, having added roughly 0.4 square kilometres since the 1960s through ongoing sediment deposition.

Serbia designated the island a protected landscape in 2005, an IUCN Category IV classification given for its outstanding natural features. That status bars hotels, motels and restaurants from being built on it, which is the main reason the island has stayed undeveloped this close to a capital city.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

What's inside

The protection status exists because of the island's wildlife. Bird surveys have recorded 208 species on Great War Island, 200 of them protected, with 66 species nesting there rather than just passing through. White-tailed eagles established themselves on the island in 2010, and pygmy cormorants and black storks are also resident. Fifty-three fish species have been identified in the surrounding waters, and 21 mammal species live on the island, including otters and wild boar; a soprano pipistrelle bat, rare enough to be individually noted, was discovered there in 2008.

Vegetation is dominated by black poplar, ash and willow, the trees that tolerate regular flooding, alongside more than 5,800 oak seedlings that have been planted on the island. Historically the island held military significance for anyone trying to take or defend Belgrade, with documented military use going back to at least 1521 during Ottoman sieges and continuing through the First World War; no fortifications are presented for visitors today, and what remains is largely the natural landscape rather than preserved ruins.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

How long to spend

Most visits are a half day: crossing the pontoon bridge, walking or cycling to Lido Beach, and spending time on the beach or the immediate shoreline. Reaching the interior wetlands and the parts of the island where the eagles and cormorants nest takes longer and is better suited to visitors specifically there for birdwatching rather than a beach day, since much of the reserve is marsh rather than open path.

Checked 2026-08-23

Season and crowds

Access is seasonal by design: the pontoon bridge that connects the island to Zemunski Kej is a 375-metre military structure put in place only for July, August and September, which is also when Lido Beach operates as a swimming spot. Outside those months the island is effectively cut off from casual visitors, since it has no permanent bridge and the surrounding water is a river crossing, not a footpath.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Tickets

Current fees for crossing the pontoon bridge or for boat access outside the bridge season are not published on the sources this page uses and are not reproduced here. The reserve itself carries no separate entry ticket beyond whatever the bridge or boat crossing costs, since the protection is a land-use designation rather than a managed visitor attraction with its own gate.

Checked 2026-08-23

Getting there

During the July-to-September season, the pontoon bridge from Zemunski Kej in Zemun is the direct route onto the island, leading to Lido Beach at the northern tip. Outside that window, or for anyone wanting to reach parts of the reserve away from the bridge, the island is reached only by boat, since it has no permanent vehicle or pedestrian crossing. Zemun itself is reachable from central Belgrade by tram or bus; the city has no metro.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

What to watch out for

The island floods regularly and its interior is genuine marsh, not landscaped parkland, so wandering off the tracks near Lido Beach in wet conditions is a real way to get stuck rather than a minor inconvenience. The pontoon bridge is a military structure operating on a fixed summer schedule; arriving outside July to September means no crossing at all rather than a quieter version of the same visit.

As a protected landscape with nesting eagles, cormorants and storks, the reserve rules exist specifically to keep visitors away from breeding areas outside the beach zone, and drones or close approach to nest sites should be avoided for that reason. The dozen or so retirees who keep seasonal residences on the island are private occupants, not part of any visitor facility, and their plots should be treated as private property.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Photography

The confluence itself — the visible line where the Sava's water meets the Danube's — is best photographed from the island's western shore or from the fortress side across the water, since Great War Island sits exactly at that junction. Early morning is the strongest time for the resident bird species, particularly the white-tailed eagles, though photographers should keep distance from nests rather than approach for a closer shot, in line with the reserve's protection rules.

Checked 2026-08-23

Where it is

• 1 hour

  14 min walk · New Belgrade

  Usce Park

  • High
  • Nature site
• 45 min

  15 min walk · Zemun

  Monument to Pilots who Defended Belgrade in April War in 1941

  • High
  • Historic monument
• 45 min

  15 min walk · Stari Grad

  Monument to the Defenders of Belgrade from 1915

  • High
  • Historic monument

External links

• View on Wikidata