Belgrade is an excellent choice. It’s a bit out of the way but offers:

1. a passionate WordPress community with many local high level experts
2. affordable high quality accommodations and food

Paris was a strange choice as Paris is very pricey and WordCamp had to be held in a rough area of town outside of the periphérique (ring road). Even the catered food was terrible (all wrapped in plastic, stale and tasteless: generated a huge amount of garbage). Probably due to the high price of having decent food. Fortunately good coffee and cakes were available all day long, preventing most of the WordPress community from fainting from lack of edible food (we were all too far from any other civilisation in the Docks de Paris to go elsewhere for lunch). Vienna’s lunches were excellent incidentally.

In the end, the Paris WordCamp turned better than I anticipated thanks to some great on the ground organisation and the community. The final party was in a nineteenth century pavillion in the Bois de Bologne with great atmosphere. The food suffered yet again (hot dogs, hamburgers – thank heavens for the crepes). Sadly not enough of us turned up in the prescribed 1930’s costumes which was strange as in Vienna almost the entire WordPress core team came in proper evening wear. Many talks were very excellent and it was a great chance to meet the core team and some top vendors/suppliers to discuss deep WordPress issues (performance and security were high on our agenda).

Many of us visitors lamented that tickets are not another €20 or €30 more expensive to allow WordCamp to feed us properly. By the time one factors in travel and accommodation, the price of the tickets is the least of our issues.

Belgrade, like Vienna, is a city made for living and not just tourists or bankers so WordCamp 2018 should be fabulous! Book your tickets now.