Bosnia and Herzegovina · City break

Sarajevo City Guide

Five minutes separate the Ottoman bazaar from the Austro-Hungarian downtown. In Sarajevo minarets stand beside church towers, and bullet holes still sit in some facades. One ready-made day route from the tram terminus takes you from Baščaršija over the Latin Bridge of 1914 up to the Yellow Bastion.

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Our walking tours of Sarajevo

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Sarajevo, to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

Baščaršija, Miljacka & the view

From the Ottoman Baščaršija bazaar with its Sebilj fountain to the great Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque and across the line in the pavement where the Orient meets the Austro-Hungarian city. On to the museum about the siege, down to the Miljacka and the Latin Bridge of 1914, then the rebuilt Vijećnica. Finally up to the Yellow Bastion, optionally by cable car onto Trebević.

Baščaršija & Sebilj. The 15th-century Ottoman bazaar is the heart of Sarajevo, with narrow lanes where coppersmiths still hammer away, coffee shops, carpets and one ćevapi grill after another. In the middle stands the wooden Sebilj fountain, ringed by pigeons and by everyone meeting up here. Have a Bosnian coffee from the copper pot, with a sugar cube and rahatlokum on the side. It's meant to take longer than an espresso. The tram terminates right on the square, so this is exactly where you begin.
Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque. The country's largest historic mosque was endowed in 1531 by the Ottoman governor Gazi Husrev-beg and is still the religious centre of the bazaar quarter. In the courtyard the ablution fountain splashes away, next to the tombs of the founder and his steward. You can visit outside prayer times, with shoes off and shoulders and knees covered; headscarves are provided at the entrance. There's a small fee, and the painted domes inside are worth it.
Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures. In the middle of the pedestrian street, a line in the pavement marks where Ottoman Sarajevo meets the Austro-Hungarian city. Turn once on the spot and you have low bazaar lanes with wooden shopfronts on one side and the stately facades of the Habsburg era on the other. It's the shortest route to understanding this city, with 400 years of Ottoman rule and 40 years of Habsburg, one step apart. Two photos in opposite directions explain more than any guidebook. Two side streets further north, the War Childhood Museum tells the city's most recent chapter through very personal objects. A ballet shoe, a diary, each with a personal story attached.
Museum of Crimes Against Humanity. This small museum tells the story of the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995 through the people who lived it, with photographs, video interviews, everyday objects from a city with no power, no water and no way out. Sarajevo was cut off for almost four years, the longest siege of a capital city in modern history. The visit takes about an hour and it weighs on you. But without it you'd only half understand the rest of the day. Plan a deliberate coffee break afterwards.
Latin Bridge. On the north side of this unassuming Ottoman stone bridge, Gavrilo Princip shot the Austrian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on 28 June 1914. A few weeks later the First World War began. A plaque on the corner building and a small museum inside it recall the day. You cross the bridge itself in two minutes. And yet this is one of the most consequential spots in European history.
Vijećnica (City Hall). The red-and-yellow striped showpiece in pseudo-Moorish style was built in the 1890s as the city hall and later became the national library. On the night of 26 August 1992 it burned out completely after shelling, and some two million books and manuscripts were lost. After more than 20 years of reconstruction the Vijećnica reopened in 2014. You can visit the atrium with its arches, ornament and glass roof. From the opposite bank you fit the whole facade in frame.
Yellow Bastion (Žuta Tabija). The bastion is part of the old Vratnik fortifications and sits just high enough for you to take in the whole basin, with minarets, red roofs, the Miljacka and the white gravestones on the slopes. The walk up goes through a steep residential quarter and past the Kovači cemetery, where the dead of the siege are buried. At the top there's a simple café with plastic chairs, and that's all it needs. During Ramadan the cannon announcing the breaking of the fast is fired from here. And at sunset it's the city's favourite spot.
Trebević Cable Car. If there's still time after the bastion, add the local mountain. The cable car from 1959 was destroyed in the war and reopened in 2018, and it now takes you up to Trebević in a good seven minutes. Up top there's forest, hiking trails and the derelict bobsleigh track of the 1984 Winter Olympics, now covered end to end in graffiti. The view over the basin is the widest you'll get in Sarajevo. Stick to the marked paths. Off them, the mountain has not been cleared everywhere.

Planning your visit

One day is enough. The route from the Baščaršija runs three kilometres and starts at the Ottoman bazaar with its Sebilj fountain. Five minutes later you stand in the Habsburg city centre, and that seam is what defines the place. Then come the Latin Bridge, where the world war began in 1914, the city hall, the Yellow Bastion and the cable car up the Trebević. The traces of the war of the nineties are still visible on many façades. Five evening tips are ready, and Mostar is a day trip of its own.

Going out & nightlife

Rooftop bars

Kod Bibana. A terrace restaurant high above the city with probably the best valley view in Sarajevo. Not a classic rooftop but a hillside perch above Vratnik. Bosnian cooking, a good breakfast, and in the evening the whole lit-up city lies at your feet. Take a taxi up and walk back down, the climb is genuinely steep.

Nightlife quarters

Baščaršija & Ferhadija. In the evening half the city strolls the Ferhadija between the bazaar and the Austro-Hungarian quarter. That's Sarajevo's version of a night out. Around Baščaršija people sit over coffee and shisha, hard liquor is rare in the bazaar part. The further west you walk, the more bars and the later it gets.

Food & restaurants

Ćevabdžinica Željo. The city's best-known ćevapi address and a bazaar institution for decades. Honestly, the quality has been up and down for a few years now, and the neighbours in the same lane are often just as good. So try your way around. You order by the piece, served with somun bread, raw onions and kajmak.

Bars & clubs

Zlatna Ribica. A tiny bar crammed with antiques, old lamps and curiosities. And one of the few smoke-free spots in town. The bill arrives inside an old book, and the way to the loo leads past a collection of oddities. Come early, barely twenty people fit inside.

Stage & concerts

Nationaltheater Sarajevo. A neoclassical house from 1921 with opera, ballet and drama, right in the Austro-Hungarian quarter. Tickets often cost just a few marks. Which makes it one of Europe's cheapest nights at the opera. Performances are mostly in Bosnian, but ballet and opera work anyway; check the programme in advance.

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Practical information for Sarajevo

Public transport

Operator. GRAS (KJKP GRAS Sarajevo) is the municipal transport company of Sarajevo Canton and operates four systems in parallel, the sole tram line 3, several trolleybus lines (102, 103, 105, 107, 108), city and suburban buses, and minibuses to the suburbs and up the mountain. There is no joint fare with neighboring cantons or with the railway, GRAS tickets are valid exclusively within its own network.

Network. Trams, trolleybuses and buses. Line 3 runs the length of the main axis.

Modes of transport. Tram · Trolleybus · Bus · Minibus

Operating hours. On weekdays the first tram leaves Baščaršija toward Ilidža at 5.10 a.m., and in the other direction likewise at 5.10 a.m., with the last regular departure around 10.56 p.m., while a few later services only run as far as the tram depot. Trolleybus line 107 between Dobrinja and Jezero runs on weekdays from 6.00 a.m. to 10.50 p.m., with a reduced schedule and somewhat shorter operating hours on weekends. Directly following daytime service, night line 3N on the tram route and night line 107N on the trolleybus route run continuously every 15 to 45 minutes until the first daytime service at around 5 a.m.

Night service. On the tram route, night line 3N runs between 11.45 p.m. and 5.10 a.m. roughly every 15 to 45 minutes, with a longer gap between 2.45 am and 3.30 a.m. The trolleybus night line 107N runs between Dobrinja and Jezero from midnight to 4.40 a.m. every 45 minutes in both directions.

Buying tickets. GRAS sells paper tickets at five of its own kiosks, in Ilidža, at the Stup underpass, at the Dobrinja terminal, at the Otoka trolleybus terminal, and in Baščaršija. In addition, a ticket can be bought online through the cantonal app Javni Prevoz KS, which is scanned as a QR code on board. Anyone wanting a monthly pass on an electronic chip card can have one issued at the GRAS sales points Ćumurija, Ilidža or Otoka.

App and payment. Javni Prevoz KS is the official public transport app of the Sarajevo Canton government, available in Bosnian and English, and usable even without registration with limited functionality. It bundles timetables, real-time vehicle tracking including arrival forecasts at the stop, and online purchase of single and monthly tickets, which are scanned as a QR code on board. Both GRAS and the bus operator Centrotrans are integrated. Contactless card payment directly on the vehicle is not possible through it.

Which ticket. A single journey costs a uniform 2.20 KM on all four city transport modes (tram, trolleybus, city bus, minibus), children pay 1.10 KM. The ticket is only valid for the mode of transport it was bought for, so a tram ticket is invalid on the trolleybus. The day pass costs 7.10 KM, the equivalent of a good three single journeys (7.10 am divided by 2.20 am). The ten-day pass costs 50 KM, the equivalent of seven day passes (50 divided by 7.10 am). Suburban bus lines (prigrad) are tiered and more expensive, from 2.40 am to 6.70 KM depending on distance, while mountain lines (planina) cost 6.10 KM one-way or 8.50 KM round-trip.

Fare zones. Within the city lines there are no zones, the price is uniform. Only outside the city boundary, on suburban and mountain bus lines, does the price rise in tiers with distance.

Tip. The tram follows the Miljacka and links Baščaršija with the station.

Getting there

Main station

Location. The train and coach stations sit side by side, west of the centre.

Long-distance trains. Year-round, two train pairs run south to Čapljina, arriving in Sarajevo at 8.35 a.m. and 7.07 p.m. and departing at 7.15 a.m. and 4.46 p.m. From June 26 to September 27, this service extends through to Ploče on the Croatian coast, with an additional weekend train from Ploče at 6.26 p.m. Outside this summer season, the Ploče connection ends on individual weekdays, Friday, Saturday or Sunday depending on the train number. Another express service runs on weekdays except Saturday or Sunday, depending on direction, between Sarajevo and Maglaj. No international passenger trains run from Sarajevo to Croatia, Serbia or beyond, the only cross-border option is the seasonal train to Ploče.

Opening hours. The first regional train leaves on weekdays just before 5 a.m. toward Zenica, the last regular regional train ends around 8 p.m. The two daily long-distance trains southbound depart at 7.15 a.m. and 4.46 p.m.

Airports

SJJ

Into the city. The Centrotrans scheduled bus runs directly to Baščaršija, by taxi with clear traffic it takes about 20 minutes.

Frequency. The airport bus runs daily, from the airport 7.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. and from Baščaršija 6.45 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., mostly every 45 to 75 minutes with denser service in the morning.

Local quirks

Four religions in a small space. Mosque, Catholic cathedral, Orthodox church and synagogue lie just minutes apart.
Trains reach the sea, but not abroad. Sarajevo has no through international rail connection. The only cross-border train runs only from late June to late September and ends in the Croatian town of Ploče on the Adriatic, all other lines stay within Bosnia.
A single tram line for the whole city. The entire tram network consists of just one single line between Baščaršija and Ilidža. There are no crosstown or ring connections, the network is supplemented solely by trolleybus and bus lines.

Good to know

Currency: BAM KM
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · F
Time zone: Europe/Sarajevo
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 80 km/h on normal rural roads, 100 km/h on expressways and roads reserved for motor traffic, motorway 130 km/h

The 130 km/h motorway limit is higher than many travelers expect. By law, speed is measured by radar, video, or tachograph analysis, and all three methods count as evidence.

Tipping. Ten percent in restaurants, rounding up in cafés.

Tolls. On the A1 motorway you pay at toll booths, cash or card. There are no other tolls.