Oh, I realized I never told you about Niš. Let me fix that.

The city is absolutely beautiful. I've seen tons of recommendations to definitely check out Novi Sad. But in my opinion, its only real advantage over Niš is that it's closer to Belgrade. In every other way, it just doesn't compare.

The atmosphere here is much nicer, the streets look better maintained, and the layout is more comfortable. Even the buildings on the outskirts are pretty decent—there's tons of history everywhere. You've got attractions from ancient Roman times all the way through World War II. And then there's Niš Fortress, built by the Byzantines to defend against the Slavs (which is kind of hilarious from a historical perspective). Unlike Novi Sad, you don't get that retired-person-town vibe here (sorry to my friends from there (:).

And honestly, there's just energy everywhere. Saturday evenings on the riverside in the center and on the pedestrian streets—it feels like basically the entire young crowd of the city comes out. There's literally nowhere to stand (though maybe they just don't have anywhere else to hang out).