Walks · December 4, 2025 ·2 min read

Following the Miljacka: the river walk that shows you the whole city

Six bridges, three empires, one afternoon.

By Nedim Hadzimahmutovic ·Sarajevo

The Miljacka is not a grand river. It is narrow, sometimes shallow, occasionally green, occasionally rust-coloured depending on what fell into the mountains overnight. It threads through the entire historic city, and walking it is the single best way to understand how Sarajevo’s eras stack on top of each other.

The Latin Bridge — a four-arch Ottoman bridge over the Miljacka in central Sarajevo. — The Latin Bridge — about halfway through the walk. Photograph: **Miha Peče**, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Start: Vijećnica

Begin at the City Hall, the Moorish-revival masterpiece built by the Austro-Hungarians in 1894, burned during the siege, restored over eighteen years and reopened in 2014. Even from the outside it is a marvel. Step inside if you can.

Bridge 1: Šeher-Ćehajina

Just east of Vijećnica. Ottoman stonework, eight arches, the oldest of the surviving bridges in this stretch.

Bridge 2: Latinska Ćuprija

You know this one. Pause. Read the modest plaque. The page on the Latin Bridge tells you what happened on the corner in 1914. Keep moving.

Bridge 3: Drvenija

Wooden in name (no longer in fact). A favourite local crossing.

Bridge 4: Festina Lente

Modern, twisted, knot-shaped, installed by art students in 2012. The name means make haste slowly, which feels like a Sarajevan motto if there ever was one.

Bridge 5: Ćumurija

Iron, dating from 1886. Cross here and you step out of the Ottoman bazaar into the Austro-Hungarian quarter.

Bridge 6: Skenderija pedestrian bridge

The end of your walk. Take a coffee at one of the cafés along Wilsonovo Šetalište, then turn around and look back. Six bridges, six centuries, one river. Vala (honestly), Sarajevo, in summary.

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