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Pocket guide

The Sarajevo attractions, edited

A shortlist of what most visitors actually see, and what we think you should see instead.

The official tourism board maintains a comprehensive list of Sarajevo attractions — landmarks, sights, museums, fountains, bridges, monuments. It is thorough, helpful, and written by committee. This page is the editorial cut: the things we send friends to, in priority order, with notes on what to skip and what to add.

The eight to actually visit

If you only have a few days in the city, these are the eight we would not let you leave without seeing. Each has its own page on the site.

  1. Baščaršija — the 1462 Ottoman bazaar, still a working bazaar. Start here.
  2. The Latin Bridge — where the 20th century began. A small plaque, a small detour, ten minutes.
  3. Vijećnica — the pseudo-Moorish city hall and national library. Destroyed 1992, rebuilt by 2014. Visit inside.
  4. Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque — the 1531 mosque at the centre of Baščaršija. Take off your shoes, step inside, look up.
  5. The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos and the Sacred Heart Cathedral — Orthodox and Catholic, both 19th-century, both with their place in the meeting-of-cultures story.
  6. Žuta Tabija — the Yellow Fortress — climb at sunset.
  7. The cable car to Trebević — and walk a section of the abandoned 1984 bobsled track at the top.
  8. Vrelo Bosne — the springs at the source of the Bosna river, ten kilometres west in Ilidža. A half-day trip. Take the fiacre.

That is the eight-stop tour of Sarajevo, in roughly the order we would walk it.

What we would skip

The official list contains a few entries that we would skip for first-time visitors with limited time:

  • The Eternal Flame on Maršala Tita — important monument, but a quick stop on a walk past, not a destination.
  • The Sarajevo Olympic Museum — small, mostly text panels; the bobsled track on Trebević is the better way to feel the Olympics.
  • Various Habsburg-era plaques and small monuments along Ferhadija — interesting on a slow walking tour, but not a separate stop.

What we would add

These do not appear prominently on the official list but should:

  • Kovači street — the climb out of Baščaršija into the residential old town, with three of the city’s best cafés.
  • The Tunnel of Hope — the 1993 siege tunnel under the airport. Often listed but underrated; this is the single most important war site in the city.
  • The Inat kuća — the “Spite House” that was moved across the river so the City Hall could be built. The story alone is worth a stop.

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