Eastern European beer festival begins

Over the weekend beer-lovers from all over the world will be heading for the Serbian capital of Belgrade to enjoy some of their favourite tipples.

The 2007 Belgrade Beer Festival is taking place all weekend (August 15th to 19th) and will feature 30 different domestic and foreign brews for visitors to sample.

Since its inception in 2003, the festival has rapidly expanded. In fact, 550,000 visitors attended the free event in 2006. Between them, the thirsty tourists managed to consume over half a million litres of beer!

And the organisers are promising that this year's event will be even bigger and better.

The event has moved to a larger space to give everyone more room. In addition, there will be a new stage, the Beck's Experience, which will be providing a host of exciting music acts to soundtrack the drinking.

Best of all, the entrance to the beer festival is still free, meaning that holidaymakers need only bring enough money for their ales.

The Lonely Planet is extremely positive about eastern European state, noting: "The ragged charm of Belgrade nightlife, the soothing vineyards and monasteries on the green plains, the mountain strongholds of historical rebellion and heroic resistance; the curious traveller will find a lot to like in today's Serbia."

Travel Insurance - Holiday Extras insured over 750,000 people last year and were voted BEST Insurance provider and BEST website by the travel trade.