I wanted to spend the Christmas holidays in a country nestled between mountains and with plenty of snow. I also wanted somewhere that was not too touristy and full of history and culture! We were also working on a tight budget (as usual). Upon doing a lot of research, I focused on the Balkans (it truly has my heart) and zoomed in on Bosnia and Herzegovina! It didn't disappoint and had a magical 5 days!
As transport was an issue for us, I booked a guide to take us everywhere we want to do. Mirnes (+387603412728) was the perfect guide for us who was patient and put up with all my requests. His rates were very competitive too. Mirnes was always on time and very professional! Bosnia is a Muslim country herefore if you wish to visit any mosque, please carry a head covering for women and no shorts for men! We loved that the food was still very traditional just like we loved it as it is not too touristy. In terms of money, we took euros and then converted to Bosnian Convertible Mark. Except Sarajevo, everywhere lese took cash so always carry cash instead of card. Bosnia and Herzegovina was very cheap therefore you will get your money's worth! Everywhere we visited had entry fees.
We went at the end of December and it wasn't that cold except when we got to the mountains however it is best to wear show boots as it is very snowy.
Here was our itinerary:
- Sarajevo - the capital city is full of charm especially the Old Town with a nice market and beautiful mosques. We visited the Latin Bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and caused WW1. We visited the Jewish Museum. I have never visited a temple so this was quite opening. The museum is set on 3 floors and details the influence of Jewish people in Bosnia and the local community. We then visited the Gazi Husreq Bag Mosque which was so beautiful. Please bear in mind that during prayer time, usually around lunch time, you are not able to visit inside the mosque. I have never visited a mosque so to visit the oldest Ottoman Empire's mosque in Bosnia was a great life experience! It was so peaceful! A must visit! We then went to the 1992-1995 Genocide Museum. It is a must-visit museum which details the events of the Bosnian war. It will be very heavy as there's video footage and explicit photos depicting violence. If you have young kids, I wouldn't recommend it. My kids found it very evocative and were quite chocked up to read about the horrors! Lucky especially got quite emotional drawing parallel to the Sri Lankan Tamil war. After that heavy visit, we went to eat, There's plenty of places to eat offering lots of traditional cuisine. We also had traditional sweets Baklava which we found a bit too sweet! To round up the day, we visited the Great Hall, which is basically Sarajevo City Hall and you must visit for it's internal architecture. In the basement, there's a museum of when the city hall was bombed during the Bosnian war and its reconstruction. Sarajevo has lots of museums and galleries to offer! Trebevic Mountain is also nearby where you can get a cable car and see the views of the city. Sunnyland is an amusement park further in the mountains where you can experience an alpine coaster which is perfect entertainment for the whole family. Near Sarajevo airport is the Tunnel of Salvation which takes you through underground tunnels and how people lived during Sarajevo Siege in the 90s a must visit!
- Olympic Mountains - Winter Olympics were hosted in Sarajevo in 1985 and you can still visit the ski sloes and bobsleigh track. Igman mountains has the ski jump course and Bjelasnica is a famous ski resort where you can ski as well as sledding where you can rent traditional sleds to go down the slopes. The kids didn't want to go skiing so we did sledging which was so much fun! The roads can get very snowy and the fog can be very thick so please be careful when driving!
- Visoko, Travnick and Jajce - can you believe that Bosnia has pyramids??? Well it has and it has special powers too. You can visit the tunnels beneath the pyramids with a tour guide. We went first thing in the morning where there were no crowds. We definitely felt some changes in our body. Mahi had a heavy cough for a couple of weeks and after visiting the pyramids the cough just disappeared!!! The tour took about an hour and was very detailed! We then drove to Travnick to visit the fortress which gave us a stunning view of the snow covered town. I also enjoyed visiting the museum within the fortress! We also visited the coloured mosque which was so beautiful. We weren't able to visit insdte but it is absolutely stunning. Not far from the mosque was the Nobel prize winner novelist Ivo Andric's house which we stopped by quickly to visit. We then drove to Jajce to see the famous water mills. It was right out of a fairytale! Around the corner, was the famous Jajce waterfall which was majestic! it was so beautfiul especially with the different colours around the waterfalls. There's also a museum, fortress and catacombs close to the waterfall! This town has many things to offer and you can easily spend a day in this town.
- Konjic, Buna Spring and Pocitelj- these 2 towns is in the Herzogovina state and was our favourite part of the holiday. The weather is completely different and the landscape very different too! We first visited Konjic. The river was crystal clear with many different hues of blues and greens. We went on the famous bridge and also visited the huge memorial on the hill. We then visited Tito's bunker. You need to book in advance and provide passprt details before visiting as this is a military guarded place. We had to go on a special transport to the bunker. It takes 2 hours to visit and it is huge! There's of course a guide to take you around and explain the place. It is absolutely mind-boggling to see how they built such a huge bunker in secret and with so much technology in the 50s! We then visited my absolute favourite part of the trip which was Buna Soring! I cannot describe this place to you! It was magical and I didn’t want to leave it! You can also visit the Sufi Hiuse by the Soring! During summer time, you can go inside the cave by boat too! What a beautiful place and a must visit. We then watched sunset from Pocitelj. During winter, it is completely abandoned and loved the eerie feeling. There’s a fortress and a mosque to visit and sunset was so worth the walk in the dark!
Mostar and Jablinka - we visited the Mostar bridge both at night time and during daytime too! We loved Mostar and its charming old town and its cobbler streets. We wanted to visit Kajitaz House but it was closed on Monday. This was a house which depicts traditional living during the Ottoman Period. Jablinka is famous for the fallen bridge which was a strategic move by the Yugoslavia army during WW2 so enemies don’t enter important cities. The bridge is the actual bridge. Nearby is the Battle of the Wounded Museum which is another important museum to visit to learn more about the local area.
Overall, we had a great time. The hospitality of the Bosnian people was so heart warming and their resilience despite their recent history is truly awe inspiring! Bosnia is truly a hidden gem and realised my dream of having a white Christmas! The country is so full of culture and history too and we were learning so many things every day! I would also recommend driving through the country as the road trips were just so scenic! A beautiful country to not miss!
