First Trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo

Lion Pansion Hostel

Hotel | "Perfect Stay in Sarajevo"

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Budget lodging doesn’t get much better than the Lion Hostel. Here’s why:Perfect LocationIt’s located smack-dab in the middle of Sarajevo’s charming Old Town, on a nice little courtyard, with garage parking nearby. You can hear mosques’ five daily calls to prayer from the rooms, and you can step outside right onto streets that boast the city’s cutest shops, cafes, and bars. You can walk to everything of interest, including the other side of the river, in just minutes.Great RoomsThere’s a tiny but pretty lobby downstairs, and the rooms are very, very nice. We had one large room for four of us, and it had beautiful décor (art, rugs, la...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 11, 2009

Lion Pansion Hostel
Bravadžiluk 30
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
+387 33 236 137

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Sarajevo Tunnel Museum

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Attraction | "A Moving Experience"

Tunnel to Sarajevo Photo - Sarajevo Tunnel Museum, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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My friends and I set off in a car from the Sarajevo city center in search of the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum with only a vague sense that it was located near the airport. The museum is a bit tucked away and hard to find—or maybe it isn’t, because after aimlessly driving down a few gravel streets, we ended up right in front of it.The museum is actually inside and beneath the Kolar family home, just behind the airport. The Kolar house sits above one of two entrances to the 800-meter tunnel that was Sarajevo’s lifeline during the siege, and today visitors enter the cramped space to understand what a crossing was like. The Kolars run the museum themselves; Bosnia does not yet have any official exhi...Read More

My friends and I set off in a car from the Sarajevo city center in search of the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum with only a vague sense that it was located near the airport. The museum is a bit tucked away and hard to find—or maybe it isn’t, because after aimlessly driving down a few gravel streets, we ended up right in front of it.

The museum is actually inside and beneath the Kolar family home, just behind the airport. The Kolar house sits above one of two entrances to the 800-meter tunnel that was Sarajevo’s lifeline during the siege, and today visitors enter the cramped space to understand what a crossing was like. The Kolars run the museum themselves; Bosnia does not yet have any official exhibit commemorating the 1992-1995 Bosnian War or the siege of Sarajevo.

After paying a few dollars to help support the exhibits, our first stop was a room that plays an introductory video about the siege; as it attempts to explain how 11,000 lives were lost in the city, it plays images of the burning and bombing of all the buildings we’d just driven past to get to the museum. Perhaps the most moving images, though, are those of people using the tunnel right next to where visitors sit to watch the video.

After the introduction, we toured the home’s first floor, where the rooms are full of leftover weapons, medical supplies, maps, documents, and newspaper articles from the war. A lot of the gruesome logistics became illuminated to me here—who was fighting where and when. I understood what happened in a way that I hadn't gleaned from books and films.

Then, the tunnel. Just next to a mortar shell embedded in the ground and just beneath a façade pockmarked with scars, we entered the tunnel to experience, for a minute, what thousands of Sarajevans faced in the 1990s. The space is dark, cramped, and overflowing with terrible memories.

If you visit one thing in Sarajevo, make it this small museum—I found it to be a profound experience that provided much-needed context to what I knew of Bosnia’s recent history. While I loved everything about Sarajevo, I don’t think I’d understand the city at all if I hadn’t made this stop. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on April 7, 2010

Sarajevo Tunnel Museum
Tuneli 1, Ilidža
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Inat Kuca

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Restaurant | "Traditional Bosnian Food at Its Best"

The Floors of Inat Kuca Photo - Inat Kuca, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Thanks to tip-offs from IgoUgo members billmoy and captain oddsocks, our only choice for dinner in Sarajevo was Inat Kuca. It was a great recommendation and the perfect introduction to Bosnian food.Both previous reviewers sought to warm up winter’s chill at Inat Kuca, but I can report that the restaurant is lovely on a summer’s night as well. We sat in the upstairs window nook, opened the windows, and enjoyed warm air and good food.We ordered some of the same dishes as billmoy and captain oddsocks, plus about half of the rest of the menu—what can I say, we were hungry! We got the Bosnian Pot, along with a couple of orders of Bey’s Soup, a spinach pie, a mixed meat plate of appe...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 11, 2009

Inat Kuca
Veliki Alifakovac 1
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
(387) 3344-7867

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Mostar

Motel Kriva Cuprija

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Hotel | "Charming Hotel in the Heart of Town"

Double Room at Motel Kriva Cuprija Photo - Motel Kriva Cuprija, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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It would be hard not to like Motel Kriva Cuprija. For one thing, you can’t beat the location: it’s located on a babbling brook at Mostar’s Crooked Bridge and is central to the entire Old Town. (There’s a Kriva Cuprija II across the river, and it didn’t look nearly as charming—and wasn’t as central—as this one.) For another thing, the staff is unfailingly friendly and helpful, from pouring welcome juice drinks to performing MacGyver moves on locked doors. (Beware the bathroom keys.) And the rooms are simple but completely modern and with charming outdoor seating areas outside each one.This place isn’t really a "motel" by U.S. standards—it’s a full-fledged hotel. Inside the rooms, space is ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 12, 2009

Motel Kriva Cuprija
Kriva cuprija 2
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
00387(0)36 550 953

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Bella Vista

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Restaurant | "Mediterranean Food in a Magical Setting"

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We had a hard time choosing where to eat dinner in Mostar. There were plenty of restaurants along both sides of the river, but those that were open were all quite empty on a Tuesday in September. We ended up seeking out this restaurant because it had been recommended to us by our new friend Gina back at our Sarajevo hotel. It was a solid recommendation in a magical setting.Our long table and benches were in a corner of the large patio, high above the river. We sat and watched the last sunlight disappear as the call to prayer sounded; the muezzin’s call was one of the most beautiful I’ve heard, absolutely mesmerizing.The food was from Italy by way of the Balkans. We first...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 12, 2009

Bella Vista
Onescukova
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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