City highlights

Coolest corner

Graffiti (Kosovska 21A), a tiny speakeasy open from morning espressos to midnight martinis, is one of the city’s trendiest spots. In summer, everyone heads to the river and man-made beach Strand, where a nearby live music venue stages punk gigs

Must-see sight

Towering above the city, the Petrovaradin Fortress is impossible to miss, and its subterranean passageways invite a whiff of adventure – if only because you might take a wrong turn and get lost in the 10-mile labyrinth. Only half a mile is open to the public and guided tours in English require a minimum of 10 tickets (although at £2 each, it’s not such a hardship if you fork out for the lot)

Signature dish

Reflecting a multicultural community, restaurant menus are refreshingly varied: snack on pizza, warm up with Hungarian goulash or tuck into strukli,a Croatian pie. At the excellent Project 72 (Kosovska 15), I was served ice cream made with red pepper tapenade ajvar. A meal of traditional Vojvodina food costs around £25 with wine

Greatest export

Tennis player and winner of nine Grand Slams, Monica Seles was born in Novi Sad. At the top of her game, she was stabbed by a spectator in the 1990s, though she soon bounced back

English equivalent

Compared to Gibraltar for its indomitable spirit and dubbed the Serbian Athens for its cultural roots, it’s more like a snippet of Brighton marooned in an East Anglian sea

Fun fact

Albert Einstein chose to christen his sons in the 18th-century St Nicholas Church. His first wife, Mileva Maric, grew up here, but wistful thinkers like to imagine it was a calculated, ingenious move