The old downtown stations are gone — where to go now
The single most important thing to know is that the grand stations many guides still name no longer serve travellers. Belgrade's historic main railway station near the riverfront — the classic Balkan terminus used by the Orient Express — closed permanently on 30 June 2018. The old central bus station (BAS) near it, at Železnička 4 in the Sava Amphitheatre, ceased operations at the end of September 2024 after more than fifty years. Because older guides, maps and blogs still reference those downtown locations, visitors frequently go to the wrong place — and this page exists mainly to correct that.
Here is the short version. Trains now leave from Beograd Centar — colloquially "Prokop" — a modern station a few kilometres south of the old town and the de facto main railway station, though parts of it remain unfinished. Long-distance buses now leave from a new main station in Block 42, on Antifašističke borbe street in New Belgrade, next to the New Belgrade railway station and on the site of the former flea market. Both are away from the old riverside locations, both are reachable on Belgrade's free city transport network, and the rest of this page explains where each one sits and how to use it.
Which is the main train station in Belgrade?
The main train station in Belgrade is Beograd Centar, almost always called Prokop after the area it sits in. The two names are the same place. All trains now use it; its new main hall, built on top of the platforms, opened in October 2023, so the station finally looks and works like a capital-city terminus rather than the bare underground platforms it offered between 2018 and 2023.
A few orientation details, as of 2026:
- Where it is. A few kilometres south of the historic centre. You enter from Prokop Street on the south side of the station. It is closer to the centre than the New Belgrade station (roughly 3 km versus 4 km).
- Inside. The main hall has a ticket office, toilets and an ATM. The ticket office handles both domestic and international tickets and accepts cards. (Reported opening hours have been around 06:00–22:00 with short midday/evening breaks — perishable, so don't plan a tight connection around them.) Food and shop choice is limited, so it's worth stocking up before you travel.
- A useful alternative: Novi Beograd (New Belgrade) station. Trains on the line from Zagreb stop here a few minutes before/after Beograd Centar, and it has good tram links (trams 7 and 9 run toward the old-town area). If you're arriving from Zagreb it can be the more convenient place to get off; for departures, Beograd Centar generally has better facilities for waiting.
The historic riverside station, by contrast, is now closed to passengers — if a printed guide or map sends you there expecting trains, it is out of date.
How do I reach the railway station (Prokop)?
Prokop is connected to the city by several bus lines and by suburban rail, all free under Belgrade's free-transport policy (in force since 1 January 2025):
- Bus line 36 is the key one: a circular route, running roughly every 20 minutes, that links Prokop with the old-town area near the former station, Slavija and Savski Trg.
- Lines 34, 38A, 40, 41 and 44 also serve the station.
- BG Voz suburban trains stop there too.
All of these are free — you can read more about how that works in our guide to getting around Belgrade.
If you are arriving by air and connecting straight to a train, bus 600 from the airport is reported to serve Prokop directly, making it a natural arrival route. That bus is also free; the full detail lives on our airport to city page. By taxi, the ride between Prokop and the edge of the old town is short — on the order of 10–15 minutes.
Where is the bus station in Belgrade, and how do I reach it?
The main intercity bus station is now in Block 42 in New Belgrade, on Antifašističke borbe street, next to the New Belgrade railway station and on the site of the old flea market. It opened in late September 2024 — first departures on 29 September — the same week the old BAS station by the river closed. The new station was built with a large number of platforms (reported as dozens of departure and arrival bays), but at the time of research the permanent building was still being completed, with a temporary terminal handling ticketing and operations; full completion is reported as targeted for around the end of 2027, so the on-the-ground experience may change.
Block 42 is reachable via the free city transport network. Because both Block 42 and Prokop are away from the old downtown locations, finding them can be confusing for newcomers, so it is worth checking a live journey planner for the best current lines rather than relying on memory or an old map. Exact best routes change, and the free-transport policy applies across the network.
One note for readers of older guides: a small platform-access fee, paid in cash, historically applied at the old bus station. Whether and how such a fee applies at the new Block 42 station is something to check on arrival rather than assume — we won't quote a figure that may no longer hold.
How do I get from Belgrade to Novi Sad?
The fast way is the Soko ("Falcon") high-speed train from Beograd Centar (Prokop). As of 2026 it covers the roughly 75 km to Novi Sad in about 36 minutes, with around a dozen departures a day — far quicker than the bus or driving. The same high-speed line has since been extended north to Subotica (regular high-speed service launched in October 2025, Belgrade–Subotica in roughly 72 minutes) and on to Budapest, with the cross-border high-speed service opening in February 2026. Buy tickets at the station windows or through Serbian Railways (Srbija Voz). (Journey times, frequencies and fares are indicative and perishable — confirm close to your travel date.)
The slower alternative is the intercity bus from the Block 42 station, which is useful if the train timetable doesn't suit you.
Onward travel to Niš and other Serbian cities
From these two stations you can reach the rest of Serbia. Niš, the country's third city in the south-east, is served by intercity bus from Block 42 and by conventional rail from Beograd Centar. As of 2026 the planned Belgrade–Niš high-speed line is still in the works — reported as targeted for around 2027 as part of the wider corridor toward Skopje and the south — so for now the train south is the slower, more scenic option and the bus is usually faster.
More generally, from Prokop (rail) and Block 42 (bus) you can reach cities across Serbia by intercity bus and by rail. Buy tickets at the station ticket windows or through the relevant operator's channels. Specific routes, operators, frequencies and fares change often, so it is best to confirm timetables close to your travel date rather than trust a fixed schedule printed elsewhere.
What's still unknown
Several things here are deliberately left open because they are not settled. Parts of Prokop remain unfinished, and the Block 42 bus station building was still being completed at the time of research, with a temporary terminal in use — both may look and work differently by the time you arrive. Timetables, fares, station opening hours and any platform fees are perishable and should be verified locally. The Belgrade–Niš high-speed line and other corridor upgrades are progressing but not yet operational, so treat them as future, not current, options. Any dedicated event or Expo shuttle arrangements are not yet announced in our sources, so don't plan around them until they are confirmed.
The stable, dependable facts are simple: rail from Beograd Centar (Prokop), intercity buses from Block 42 in New Belgrade, both reachable on the free city network, the fast Soko train to Novi Sad and on toward Budapest — and the old riverfront stations firmly behind us.
