Is the party over for Belgrade’s club scene on the Danube?

Raft houses, known as ‘splavs’, became synonymous with the hedonistic nightclub scene in Serbia’s capital. Now they are being cleared from the river to make way for luxury flats, bars and shops

For 20 years, the raft bar Zappa Barka sat on a bend of the River Danube in central Belgrade. Revellers walked a gangplank to board the boat, then danced to live music and DJs on wooden floors, or stayed on deck all night to see the sun rise over the water. But in June 2024 the raft’s electricity supply was suddenly cut, and the barge was towed to a new destination far from the city centre.

Zappa’s existence was always unstable, but there was a sense of exception in Belgrade. That’s because this boat bar was one of Belgrade’s “splavs”, raft houses that have been built on Belgrade’s two rivers, the Danube and the Sava, since the 1960s. Locals use them in summer as waterside retreats, gathering with friends for barbecues when temperatures can hit 38C. Families buy their moorings for 99 years and can renovate their raft house within certain parameters.