My boyfriend and I arrived in picturesque Novi Sad on Wed 8th July for the EXIT festival 2009 and found the Tal Center apartments without too much bother, as they are very centrally located in the town’s pedestrianised zone, and the photos on their website helped. The apartments are located down a short cobbled path, with small local businesses and local resident’s houses on either side. We were welcomed by a pleasant member of staff named Dunja, niece of the owner Rada, shown to our room (6), up a flight of stairs. The room was of a medium size, with a small bathroom, balcony and little kitchenette area (with dishes, cutlery, mini fridge, 2 hotplates and a microwave) – really functional, and exactly what we were looking for. The air conditioner was fairly quiet and effective, the wi-fi powerful and reliable, the bed comfortable, the shower powerful and the room completely dark when we needed to sleep (EXIT at night, we slept during the day!). The apartment’s location down the cobbled street off the main street (Zmaj Jovina) meant that it was quiet during the day too, so we could catch up on our sleep in preparation for another night of festivities! On the 4th day Dunja organised an inexpensive laundry service for us, and breakfast as served in a local restaurant 3 mins walk away. A particularly nice touch was the chilled bottle of champagne that was waiting in the minibar, as I celebrated my birthday while I was there. The staff also organised cleaning, sheet & towel changing etc, outside of normal housekeeping hours, as our sleeping patterns were reversed during the 5 nights of festivities. Having paid a 15% deposit in advance to secure the accommodation, we paid the remainder upon arrival and socialised with Rada, Dunja and Nikola on the 1st night – the people of Novi Sad are so friendly, and love the Irish!

As previous visitors to Serbia will know, food and drink is very reasonably priced compared to at home, and the central location of the apartment meant a huge variety of restaurants and bars within a few minutes walk – I particularly recommend fantastic cocktail bar called Cuba Libre (down a little side street 5 mins from T.C.), a lovely café/bar on the main street called Café Paris (I think) with a brilliant selection of coffees and deserts (but slow service) and a pricier restaurant about 15 mins walk from the apartment, called Zak (2 courses each, with drinks for approx 50 euro). The EXIT festival tourist guide (especially produced for the festival) was really useful, and contained lots of useful info, and well as stickers with each restaurant or bar address – these could be given to taxi drivers, removing the language barrier. The In your Pocket guides, also available in hotels, bars and from Novi Sad tourism reps, were also useful.

We stayed in Tal Center for 7 nights, and the price was reasonable, even after factoring in the higher charges over the festival itself, considering the optimum location to both the town centre and the Petrovaradin Fortress; 10 mins walk to the main bridge, after that just follow the crowds up the hill. It’s difficult to imagine a more picturesque backdrop for a festival, combining beautiful scenery, an incredibly old, historic setting, gorgeous weather, friendly locals, and fantastic music cumulating in a brilliant atmosphere.

Checkout of Tal Center was as well managed as check-in, and the experience of meeting such friendly local people, as well as providing a boost to a new family owned and operated accommodation business, means that we will be happy to stay there again next year – roll on EXIT 2010!

We wanted to visit the EXIT Festival and searched for a hotel that we could afford. Allmost every hotel in Novi Sad doubles his prices at the EXIT-dates, so the prices were not funny anymore... Untill we saw the website of TAL Centar. Good prices en the pictures showed us good rooms. So we booked this and it was more than we expected!

The rooms were clean, fresh, modern. It was a hotel/appartment: There was a little kitchen in our room, but we also got enough fresh towels every day + they made our beds. The kitchen had a fridge/ minbar with water, cola, and vodka, that was handy! There was a flatscreen tv with lots of prgrammes. The shower always had hot water. The staff was really nice. Dunja was very helpfull to us! We had the second floor, two rooms for 5 persons, perfect. The reception was open for 24 hours a day!

The hotel is situated in the pedestrian zone = shopping street = center of the city! When you step out of the alley (which the hotel is situated in) you step on the street with a lot of restaurants. The hotel has no restaurant, but you can go (incl the hotelprice) to a restaurant nearby. This restaurant is in a street with many other restaurants and bars, really nice! You can get pizza almost everywhere. Sometimes there's a steak on the menu, but the times when we ordered it, the restaurant didn't have it.

Novi Sad has a beach at the Donau. You go with a taxi and ask for 'Strand'. It will cost you about 120 dinars from TAL Centar to Strand. Don't ask the driver for a price, but make sure the meter runs, that's much cheaper.

You can walk to EXIT, it will take 20 minutes. Cabs ask too much money and they are not faster. We had bad luck and the first night: the cab driver dropped us on the campingside. We didn't know where the entrance exactly was, so we had to walk for 20 minutes or something. We'd better could have walked from the hotel...

The Tal Centar hotel is at the end of the pedestrian area, in a cozy alley. A perfect location from where to explore Novi Sad, to me the pearl of Serbia. Owner Mr Rade has converted what I suppose was an old house into charming and personal lodgings. Breakfast across the square adds to the fun. As with many smaller newly opened places, a first class price / value ratio.