Fall of Yugoslavia | Sarajevo Siege Tour is the most popular tour provided by Meet Bosnia Travel agency. With our experienced Sarajevo local guides, you will be able to understand better the rich and sometimes violent history of this city and the whole Balkan region.
The facts presented in this war tour are delivered from an intellectual perspective, greatly insightful if you want to learn about what it was like to live in the former Yugoslavia and to have been affected by the war, as well as the big picture of these tragic events.
In the last hundred years, three times Sarajevo was the centre of the world. The first time was in 1914 when the Assassination that caused the First World War happened here. The second time was in 1984 when Sarajevo hosted XIV Winter Olympic Games in communist Yugoslavia.
And the third time was just 8 years later when the war started in Bosnia and Herzegovina which brought the world the longest siege in modern warfare i.e. the Siege of Sarajevo, and hence the name Sarajevo siege tour.
On this Sarajevo siege tour, you will hear the stories of survival in the war zone. Starting from the old town we are heading to the Yellow Fortress where you will have a small introduction to the geographical landscape of Sarajevo.
Yellow Fortress is a perfect place for that since there is a beautiful panoramic view of Sarajevo from there. During the Sarajevo siege tour, the guide will describe the living conditions in the city without electricity, food or water. If you were asking yourself why there are so many cemeteries in Sarajevo this tour will provide you with an answer. You will see Kovači, the final resting place of many Sarajevo defenders.
Almost three decades after the war Sarajevo still has visible scars from the siege. This War Tour will show you some of the more meaningful ruins. You will see the Markale market – a place where happened terrible massacre, a Memorial for the children killed in Sarajevo and other important monuments.
Later on, we are going back to the ’80s. We are talking about the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo and visiting Olympic Complex – Olympic Hall and Olympic Stadium.
Your guide will not miss on the tour to tell you more about life in the former Yugoslavia and compare it to life during the siege. Nearby the complex, you will see destroyed hospitals from the war, Defender’s Cemetery, graves of Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo, St. Vitus heroes Chapel and others.
On the way to the Tunnel of Hope, we will take you through the street once known as the Sniper Alley – the most dangerous street in Sarajevo during the siege. One of the attractions you will see on that street is the Hotel Holiday Inn where all the international journalists used to stay during the war. Also, we will not miss showing you Old Yugoslav Military Barracks.
The most important site on Sarajevo Siege Tour is the War Tunnel (Tunnel of Hope) Museum where the original war videos made during the Sarajevo Siege are being displayed.
Our guide will explain to you in detail how important the Tunnel was for people who were living in Sarajevo during the siege. There you can pass through a small part of the original Tunnel of Hope, a passage that once brought hope both to the local Sarajevan’s and other Bosnians alike.
The Dayton Peace Agreement ended the war but also legitimized the division of Bosnia into its two political entities. We will take you through both of them as our guide explains their significance.
Afterwards, you will visit the famous Bob Sleigh Track located on the Olympic Mountain Trebević. You will proceed to one of the vantage points from which tanks and artillery were wreaking havoc upon Sarajevo.
Besides the historic sights and monuments on this Sarajevo siege tour, you will be able to hear local stories of love in the war-torn city, art under the bullet rain, the meaning of symbolic red shapes in the Sarajevo asphalt and above all the triumph of the human will to survive.
The guide was very knowledgeable around the context of the Siege of his city and had many personnal or second hand stories to tell during the whole tour. He showed us several locations by car and we also took a short stroll around the Bobsleigh installations of the 1984 winter Olympics. Great tour!
Really informative tour. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about the history of former Yugoslavia and the war in Sarajevo.
The tour guide Enis was very knowledgeable and fun to be around.
I booked the Sarajevo Siege Tour – Fall of Yugoslavia with Meet Bosnia Tour at the very last minute 🙏 texted them at 7 AM and got lucky they could fit me in for the 9 AM tour.
Our guide, Arna, and driver, Faruk, were incredible. Arna shared personal stories from the war, giving us a real, emotional perspective on the hardships people faced. At one point, it got overwhelming, but I appreciated how deeply she connected us to Sarajevo’s history.
One of the most mind-blowing parts of the tour was visiting the Tunnel of Hope. Seeing how it was built in what I consider a short period of time was incredible. When there’s a will to survive, there’s a way and this tunnel was proof of that resilience.
The tour itself was amazing. We stopped at a beautiful sunset viewpoint overlooking the city and visited Trebević Mountain, where we saw the Olympic bobsleigh track. It was a shame we couldn’t walk on it since it was too slippery, but just being there was surreal.
What made this experience even more special was the people. Arna invited us to meet her mother, who showed us real Bosnian hospitality, and Faruk invited our family to a private event at a mosque that his family was hosting. The kindness and warmth they shared were something I’ll never forget.
Before this, I had the free walking tour with Meet Bosnia, and the experience was lovely. I was so impressed that I knew I wanted to book another tour with them to explore more of Sarajevo.
If you’re visiting Sarajevo, I highly recommend Meet Bosnia Tour. The whole team, including Aisha and Hidaya at the office, was so welcoming. I feel incredibly lucky to have met them and experienced Sarajevo in such a meaningful way. If I visit again, I’d definitely book with Meet Bosnia Tour and do the tours I didn’t get to experience the first time.
The tour has been very informative and interesting. The guide, Emin H, is very nice, well-read and gave us a very good overview of the history of Sarayevo and the Balkans more broadly, in an objective and precise manner. I highly recommend it!
Had an amazing tour with our guide Arna, who explained thoroughly and impressively the history of this city. Great time and really informative. Extensive tour and highly recommend as it was really well planned and organized. I appreciate the shared knowledge and the opportunity to go around the main areas of the city.
We cover the key points of interest and get valuable insights that help understand the past, present and future. A real Sarajevo feel. Thank you!