Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sarajevo
Away-day guide
unverified draftSarajevo is the most atmospheric city in this guide — an Ottoman bazaar running into an Austro-Hungarian high street, minarets and church spires on the same skyline, and a recent history that is impossible to miss. It is also very cheap, and FK Sarajevo's Koševo is a proper old European ground.
🚺 To Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium
Koševo sits on the slope north of the centre, about 25 minutes' walk uphill from Baščaršija or 15 from the cathedral. Buses and trolleybuses run up that way from the centre, and a taxi is 5–8 KM.
- Nearest stop
- Koševo bus and trolleybus stops on Patriotske lige / Alipašina
- Lines
- GRAS buses and trolleybuses towards Koševo
- Walk from centre
- 25 min
- Parking
- Limited street parking on the hillside streets and it closes off before kick-off; walk or take a taxi.
Public transport
The city runs along one valley, so orientation is easy: trams and trolleybuses shuttle east–west between Baščaršija and the western suburbs, with buses filling in and the Trebević cable car climbing the hillside for the view. Buy a ticket from a kiosk before boarding (around 1.80 KM; a little more from the driver) and stamp it on board. The old town, the high street and the stadium are all walkable. Taxis are cheap — most rides in town come to 5–10 KM — but insist on the meter or agree the fare first.
Typical prices
- Beer (0.5L)
- BAM 5
- Coffee
- BAM 2.5
- Meal, mid-range
- BAM 30
- Taxi from airport
- BAM 20
- Single transit ticket
- BAM 1.8
✈ Airports & cheaper alternatives
- Sarajevo International Airport SJJ primary 12 km A shuttle bus runs to the centre and there are city buses from the nearby main road; a taxi is 15–25 KM and takes 20 minutes. Agree the fare before setting off. Small, with Wizz Air and a handful of flag carriers; fog can disrupt it in winter, less so in the qualifying months.
- Zagreb Airport ZAG alternative 400 km Coaches run Zagreb–Sarajevo in about eight hours; not a serious option unless you are making a road trip of it. Listed only because the direct fares to Sarajevo can be steep — realistically, fly into SJJ or connect via a hub.
🍺 Supporters' pubs
FK Sarajevo
Home fans: The bordo half of the city drinks along Ferhadija and in the bars around Titova on the way up to Koševo; the cafés on the approach roads to the stadium fill from mid-afternoon and are unmistakably home territory.
Away fans: Baščaršija and the central streets are neutral and used to visitors — Zlatna Ribica and the bars behind Ferhadija are the natural meeting points, and the walk up to the ground takes 25 minutes.
One of the two big Sarajevo clubs, playing at the Olympic stadium at Koševo. Their Horde Zla support is loud and organised; the derby with Željezničar is one of the most intense in the Balkans.
Sourced from supporters' forums — always follow your club's and police advice for the fixture.
Nightlife
Baščaršija, the Ottoman quarter, is for coffee and shisha rather than beer — many places there serve no alcohol at all, which catches people out. The drinking is on and around Ferhadija and the streets behind it: Zlatna Ribica is the wonderfully cluttered bar everyone ends up in, Kino Bosna is a former cinema with live sevdah music on Mondays and a floor sticky with beer, and the bars around Zelenih beretki cover the rest. Sarajevo Brewery, across the river and operating since 1864, does tours and a beer hall.
Food & drink
Ćevapi here are the benchmark for the whole region — small grilled beef fingers served in fresh somun bread with raw onion and kajmak, from places that do nothing else. Petica and Željo in Baščaršija are the two names people argue about. Add burek from a buregdžinica (sold by weight), begova čorba (Bey's soup), and baklava with a Bosnian coffee, which comes with the ritual of the copper džezva and a cube of rahat lokum.
Cheap eats & beer
Ten ćevapi with bread costs 8–12 KM — about five euros for a proper meal. Burek is 3–5 KM, a Bosnian coffee 2–3 KM, and a half-litre of Sarajevsko beer 4–6 KM in a bar or under 2 KM from a shop. Restaurant dinners with drinks rarely reach 30 KM a head. The convertible mark is pegged to the euro, so euro prices are simply half the mark price, and euros are sometimes accepted at a poor rate — pay in marks.
Staying safe
Sarajevo has low street crime and is a comfortable, friendly city for visitors. Two specific points. Landmines from the 1990s remain in parts of the hills around the city: stay on marked paths and roads if you go walking above the valley, and take an organised tour for the bobsleigh track and the tunnel museum. Second, the war and the politics of Bosnia are living matters for the people you are drinking with — visitors asking respectfully are welcomed, opinions offered loudly are not. Take metered taxis, and note that ATMs dispense marks, not euros.
On matchday
FK Sarajevo play at the Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium at Koševo, the 1984 Winter Olympics ground north of the centre — a 25-minute uphill walk from Baščaršija or a 6 KM taxi. It is a big, open bowl and the Horde Zla behind the goal make a serious noise on European nights. Away fans get a segregated section with their own gate and a police escort; searches are thorough, and alcohol is not sold inside. Colours are fine in town, but avoid Željezničar's Grbavica end of the city in FK Sarajevo colours and vice versa — the derby here is genuinely fierce.
This city guide is still being fact-checked — some details may be inaccurate.