Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo Tours

Where the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Quarters Meet

Sarajevo's old quarter, Baščaršija, still runs on Ottoman-era lanes lined with coppersmiths and coffeehouses, while a short walk west crosses into wide Austro-Hungarian boulevards built after 1878. The Latin Bridge, where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off the First World War, sits right on that seam between the two eras. Most walking tours of Sarajevo link both quarters in an hour or two on foot.

Recent History on the Ground

Sarajevo endured the longest siege in modern European history through the 1990s, and the Tunnel of Hope museum near the airport explains how the city survived on supplies smuggled beneath the runway. Bullet-pocked buildings and the occasional Sarajevo rose, a mortar scar filled with red resin, still mark the years of shelling. Guides who lived through the period often lead these tours themselves.

Bosnian Coffee and a Slow Pace

Cevapi, grilled beef sausages stuffed into somun bread, are the city's everyday meal, best eaten standing at a stall in Baščaršija. Bosnian coffee comes in a copper pot with a lump of Turkish delight and is meant to be drunk slowly over conversation, not rushed. Many itineraries also add a cable-car ride up Trebević mountain, home to the bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics.