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Explore Sarajevo / Destinations

Index of places

Destinations.

The neighbourhoods, landmarks, and natural escapes around the valley. Each page is long-form, locally researched, and credits every photograph.

Destinations
31
Centuries
VI
Edition
2026
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Ashkenazi Synagogue Nº 01 Cover Photograph: Desemeus · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where to begin HRID / SOUTH BANK

Ashkenazi Synagogue

A 1902 Moorish-revival synagogue on the south bank of the Miljacka. One of the few Sephardic-style synagogues still active in southeastern Europe.

Sarajevo's working synagogue, built in 1902 in pseudo-Moorish style by the Austro-Hungarian administration for the Jewish community that had grown rapidly after 1878. Survived the Holocaust as a building, if not as a community. Still active. Friendly to visitors.

Established
1902
Best time
Friday afternoon, before Shabbat
Stay
30 minutes
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The other 30 destinations.

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  1. Nº 02 Marijin Dvor / Centar Avaz Twist Tower The Avaz Twist Tower is Sarajevo's tallest building (142 metres, completed 2008). A small public observation deck on the 35th floor costs... Est. 2008 Best: An hour before sunset Stay: 30–60 minutes Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
  2. Nº 03 Trebević The Olympic Bobsled and Luge Track Built for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games and last raced for the 1991 World Cup, the bobsled and luge track on Mount... Est. Track completed 1982; Olympics 1984 Best: Late spring through early autumn. The track is at ~1,160 m, often snowed in from December to March. Stay: 1.5–2 hours including walking the full 1,300 m of accessible track, plus the cable-car ride each way. Half a day with stops. Ph: isaleal · CC BY 2.0
  3. Nº 04 Centar Ferhadija Ferhadija is the broad pedestrian street that begins at the Sarači–Sarači transition (marked by the *Meeting of Cultures* line in the pavement)... Est. Restructured 1879–1918 under Habsburg rule Best: Late afternoon, when the cafés along it are full and the light is good on the Sacred Heart Cathedral Stay: 30 minutes to walk, two hours to walk slowly Ph: Mark Chorlton · CC BY-SA 2.0
  4. Nº 05 Centar Galerija 11/07/95 A small, deliberately unflashy memorial museum to the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995. Founded by photographer Tarik Samarah in 2012, on a... Best: Mid-morning, when it is quietest Stay: 1.5–2 hours, longer with the audio tour
  5. Nº 06 Centar (just behind the Sebilj) Hotel Europe Founded in 1882 to a design by Karel Pařík, Hotel Europe (Hotel Evropa) was the first purpose-built hotel of the Austro-Hungarian period... Est. 1882; restored 2008 Best: Late afternoon. The lobby café gets warm light through the front windows and reads as a working business hotel rather than a tourist attraction. Stay: An hour for a coffee in the lobby; an overnight stay if you can afford the rate. Ph: Mister No · CC BY 3.0
  6. Nº 07 Babića Bašča Inat Kuća When the Austro-Hungarians built the City Hall in 1894, one stubborn Sarajevan refused to sell his Ottoman house on the chosen site.... Best: Lunch or dinner. Book ahead for the river terrace. Stay: 1.5–2 hours Ph: Niegodzisie · CC BY-SA 4.0
  7. Nº 08 Bistrik Isa-Begov Hamam Founded by Isa-beg Ishaković around 1462, the same year he founded the city, the Isa-Begov Hamam is the oldest hammam in Sarajevo... Est. c. 1462; restored 2010–2014 Best: Late morning or early evening; the steam room is most pleasant when not crowded. Stay: 1.5–2 hours for a standard bath; 3 hours for the full ritual with rest and tea. Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
  8. Nº 09 Stari Grad Kazandžiluk Kazandžiluk is the row of coppersmiths' shops that runs east from the Sebilj into Baščaršija. The patterns being hammered here today are... Est. 15th century (Ottoman) Best: Mid-afternoon, when the smiths are most active Stay: 15–45 minutes, longer if you watch a smith finish a piece Ph: 11sasapus11 · CC BY-SA 4.0
  9. Nº 10 Vratnik Kovači Cemetery The Martyrs' Cemetery on the slopes above Vratnik, holding more than a thousand defenders killed during the siege. Alija Izetbegović, first president... Est. 1992 Best: Late afternoon, in any season Stay: 30–45 minutes Ph: Michael Büker · CC BY-SA 3.0
  10. Nº 11 Centar Markale Market A working open-air food market on Ferhadija, in the centre of Sarajevo. Locals call it Markale (a Bosnianisation of the Austro-Hungarian Markthalle).... Best: Saturday morning before 11:00 Stay: 30–45 minutes, longer with a memorial pause Ph: Scott Edmunds · CC BY 2.0
  11. Nº 12 Baščaršija Morića Han A 16th-century Ottoman caravanserai on Sarači, the spine street of Baščaršija. Now home to one of the oldest active coffeehouses in Sarajevo.... Est. 1551 Best: Late morning, in the courtyard Stay: 1–2 hours Ph: Jennifer Boyer · CC BY 2.0
  12. Nº 13 Kovačići, south slopes Old Jewish Cemetery Sarajevo's Old Jewish Cemetery, on the slopes of Trebević above Grbavica. Founded 1630. Around 3,800 tombstones in distinctive Sephardic sarcophagus form. One... Best: Golden hour, especially in autumn Stay: 45 minutes to 1 hour Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
  13. Nº 14 Stari Grad Sarači Sarači is the long pedestrian street that bisects Baščaršija from the Sebilj fountain west to the great Friday mosque. It was the... Est. 15th century (Ottoman) Best: Late afternoon Stay: Twenty minutes to walk, an hour to browse Ph: Niegodzisie · CC BY-SA 4.0
  14. Nº 15 Across the city centre The Sarajevo Roses Sarajevo Roses are the impact craters of the 1992–1996 siege, filled with red resin and preserved in the streets where civilians were... Best: Any time. Particularly affecting in morning light. Stay: Built into a wider walk; no time of its own Ph: Jennifer Boyer · CC BY 2.0
  15. Nº 16 Stari Grad Šeher-Ćehaja Bridge The Šeher-Ćehaja Bridge (Šeher-ćehajina ćuprija) is the easternmost of Sarajevo's surviving Ottoman bridges, completed in 1585/86 and named after the city governor... Est. 1585/86 Best: Late afternoon, when the south bank gets warm light on the stone arches and the bridge throws a clean reflection on the river. Stay: 10 minutes to walk across and back, 20 minutes if you stop on the south bank to look at it properly. Ph: Milan Suvajac · CC BY-SA 4.0
  16. Nº 17 Vraca, above Grbavica Vraca Memorial Park A 1981 spomenik memorial to the Sarajevan partisans of the Second World War. Damaged in the 1990s when its hilltop was front... Best: Overcast afternoons. The concrete suits cloud. Stay: 1–1.5 hours Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
  17. Nº 18 Koševo Zetra Olympic Hall The Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic Hall, locally known as Zetra, was the figure-skating, short-track and ice-hockey venue of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter... Est. 1983; rebuilt 1999 Best: Daytime for the architecture; evenings for events. The surrounding park is pleasant year-round. Stay: 30 minutes to look at the building from outside; 1.5 hours for the Olympic Museum (when its current relocation here is completed) plus the surrounding park. Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
  18. Nº 19 Stari Grad Baščaršija The 1462 Ottoman bazaar of Sarajevo, still a working bazaar. Copper workshops on Kazandžiluk, Bosnian coffee at Morića Han, and a marker... Est. 1462 Best: Late afternoon into golden hour Stay: Half a day to a full day Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
  19. Nº 20 Centar Latin Bridge A small 1798 stone bridge across the Miljacka. The Habsburgs called it Princip's Bridge after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand on 28... Est. 1798–1799 (current stone bridge) Best: Morning, before the tour groups arrive Stay: 20–40 minutes including the museum Ph: Miha Peče · CC BY-SA 4.0
  20. Nº 21 South ridge Trebević The mountain ridge that closes Sarajevo to the south. Nine-minute cable car from Bistrik to 1,164 metres, with the abandoned 1984 Olympic... Est. 1959 (cable car); reopened 2018 Best: Two hours before sunset, in any season Stay: Half a day, longer if you hike Ph: Aktron · CC BY 3.0
  21. Nº 22 Ilidža Vrelo Bosne Where the Bosna river begins. Cold pools welling up from under Mount Igman, surrounded by a 19th-century Habsburg park. Take tram 3... Est. Park laid out from 1885 onward Best: Spring through early autumn, especially May to June Stay: Half a day Ph: Raphael Schön · CC BY 2.0
  22. Nº 23 Vratnik Žuta Tabija An 18th-century Ottoman bastion on the hill of Jekovac, above the bazaar. During Ramadan a small cannon fires here at sundown to... Est. 1727–1739 Best: Sunset, especially during Ramadan Stay: 1–2 hours Ph: Damien Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0
  23. Nº 24 Butmir Tunnel of Hope A tunnel dug by hand under the Sarajevo airport runway between March and July 1993. Food, fuel, ammunition, 1 million people. The... Est. Dug March–July 1993. Museum opened 1999. Best: Any season. Allow morning or early afternoon. Stay: 1–2 hours, plus transit. 4+ as part of a wider war-history day. Ph: Baumi · CC BY-SA 3.0
  24. Nº 25 Baščaršija Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque The most important Ottoman mosque in the Balkans, built in 1531 at the centre of Baščaršija by the Ottoman governor Gazi Husrev-beg.... Est. 1531 Best: Mid-morning, before tour groups Stay: 30 to 45 minutes including the courtyard Ph: Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 3.0
  25. Nº 26 Centar Sacred Heart Cathedral Sarajevo's Roman Catholic cathedral, built between 1884 and 1889 by the Austro-Hungarian administration in a neo-Gothic style. The seat of the archbishop... Est. 1889 Best: Sunday morning if you want to attend Mass; weekdays for the quiet Stay: 30 minutes Ph: Sebastian Müller · CC BY-SA 2.0
  26. Nº 27 Centar Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos Sarajevo's main Serbian Orthodox cathedral, consecrated in 1872 — the older of the two cathedrals on opposite sides of central Sarajevo. Byzantine-revival... Est. 1872 Best: Mid-morning weekday Stay: 30 minutes Ph: Michael Goodine · CC BY 2.0
  27. Nº 28 Bistrik (lower station) Sarajevo Cable Car The Trebević cable car runs from the Bistrik neighbourhood up the mountain to 1,164 metres in nine minutes. First built 1959, destroyed... Est. 1959; reopened 2018 Best: Hour before sunset, year-round Stay: 30 minutes for the ride alone; half a day for the mountain Ph: MarinaSimic · CC BY-SA 4.0
  28. Nº 29 Stari Grad Vijećnica Sarajevo's 1896 City Hall, designed by three Czech architects in stripey pseudo-Moorish style. Held the National and University Library from 1949 until... Est. 1896 Best: Late afternoon, when the sandstone glows Stay: 1.5–2 hours including the small exhibitions Ph: Ladislav Boháč · CC0
  29. Nº 30 Stari Grad Kovači Street A short uphill walk from the Sebilj into the old residential mahala. Coppersmiths and blacksmiths once worked here; today it's Sarajevo's small... Est. 15th century (Ottoman) Best: Late afternoon into golden hour, when the bazaar lights begin to come on below Stay: An hour for the climb and one café; half a day with the cemetery and a long sit Ph: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
  30. Nº 31 Stari Grad The Sebilj The Sebilj is the kiosked drinking fountain at the centre of Baščaršija, built in 1753 by the Ottoman vizier Hadži-Mehmed paša Kukavica... Est. 1753 (restored 1891) Best: Half an hour before sunset, when the bazaar's lamps start to come on Stay: Twenty minutes if you stop; sixty if you sit at the café opposite Ph: xiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0
Off the catalogue Hidden Gems 30 addresses the bus tours miss. → The full atlas Open the map Every destination and gem on one map of the valley. → Collectibles Postcards One card per place. Worth printing. →