What about Sarajevo?
 

We have planned a trip to Bosnia and Croatia this coming May and have been doing our research , but have found little in the blogs about Sarajevo, save the excellent reports from Vttraveler and Julia. Further, the over the counter guide books, i.e., Rick Steves have little or nothing about Sarajevo. Is there something we should know about going to this part of Bosnia. I find a lot about Mostar and that surrounding area.
We have four nights scheduled in Sarajevo before moving downs to Mostar, then Durbrovnik and up the coast to Split, Plitvice, Istria and home from Trieste. All together we have 20 days for this trip. Can anyone talk to us about Saravejo. I'm going to tag this Croatia as I think it will get to more of you. Thanks.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sarajevo! I spent about 2 days there, which seemed about right to me, but of course it depends on what you want to see and experience. Sarejevo is covered in the Bradt guide to Bosnia & Herzegovina. As I recall, I found it out-of-date on a few things, so you might want to stop in a tourist information office early in your visit for more up-to-date information. And in case it proves useful to you, I entered some notes about my restaurant experiences in Sarajevo and other locations you'll be visiting in the following post:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rant-notes.cfm

Hope that helps!

I visited Sarajevo last September. It was my son's choice to go there, but I really liked it. There is not a lot of touristy things there to see or do. We just walked around the city, snapped photos of different architecture and war-damaged buildings, walked in all the shops, and visited the memorial to those killed in the war. We stayed at Hotel Michelle and I loved it! We stayed only 2 nights, but if you plan to do day trips, 4 nights will be better.

I've run into the same problem...with the exception of Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forum, which is packed with tidbits on Sarajevo: www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree

Tripadvisor also has a bit of info. Look in the forums, there, too.

Have a great trip and let us know how it went when you return!

Thanks for the comments, especially kja on the restaurant suggestions. You were at many of the same places we will visit.

I liked Sarajevo so much I'm going back at the beginning of April for 6 days.

I hope you found my TR helpful - early on in it I listed some of the websites I found the most useful when planning ...

http://www.bhtourism.ba/eng/

http://www.sunshineworldbosnia.com/index.html (primarily a ski website but still quite a lot of info, especially on Sarajevo)

http://www.discoverbosnia.com/

http://www.balkanology.com/bosnia/index.html

http://www.sonar.ba/discover.php?lang=en

http://www.jeffreysguide.com/2009/06...d-spot-of.html

http://www.hiddenbosnia.com/index_fi...velBosnia.html

…and of course TripAdvisor was a good place to find out more specific things and Google was most helpful, leading me to websites like VirtualTourist where there were further snippets of info on some of the more remote places.

Here's an interesting TR/blog I found...

http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Sarajevo.html

There are a few pages on Sarajevo in the Fodors Guide of Central and Eastern Europe which are good. It's a biggish book so I photocopied them and took them with me. The map is good too and a walking tour is marked. But the best guidebooks are by Tim Clancy who wrote the Bradt guide. Aside from the Bradt Guide to Bosnia & Herzegovina he wrote the pocket-sized Thomas Cook's Sarajevo. Do try and get a copy of either of these from Amazon.

Hopefully you can find more of the information you are looking for using the tools I mention above, but if you have any more questions do come back and ask.

I will write some sort of report after I return in mid-April.

Lonely Planet's Western Balkans guide has a Bosnia & Herzegovina section which includes Sarajevo. The Old Turkish Quarter is supposed to be beautiful and the entire city is rich with history and culture. It is full of small cafes and a few great museums. I have never been, but I really hope to go one day. Anyway, you can get just the chapter on Bosnia & Herzegovina's from Lonely Planet's website as an adobe document. Hope this helps.

Great info here, thanks so much! Can't wait to visit.

> The Old Turkish Quarter is supposed to be beautiful

It is!

> the entire city is rich with history and culture

Indeed!

> It is full of small cafes

Which were filled with people when I was there in May - the atmosphere was very laid back and friendly.

> a few great museums

I thought so, but then I really enjoy visiting museums.

And don't forget the parks and public squares . . .

I agree with julia t that the Tim Clancy guide is very good. It has been updated recently. We operated with an older version which worked well with tourist office info to be sure about current hours

I would be glad to answer any specific questions about Sarajevo. We had a wonderful trip there.

Does 4 nights/3 days sound about right for Sarajevo?

We'll be arriving from the US overnight -- will get there around 2 pm. So, that leaves us about 3.5 days, really. I don't want to short-change the place, it looks wonderful. But there's so much else to see, too...

NanBug--I think 3 1/2 days is enough to give you a good taste of Sarajevo. WE spent about 5 1/2 days there and had plenty to do right in the city (without side trips). I posted a long trip report about BiH and Croatia. Days 1 and 2 and 7-10 describe our sightseeing in Sarajevo.

Thanks, VT!

Our thanks to all of you for the suggestions and web sites. We now know where to find a lot more information about Sarajevo that will make our trip more enjoyable. Thanks.

Jim