Sarajevo Olympic Tour is created to let you experience the spirit of the Olympics and a flashback to the 1980’s.
Among other Sarajevo tours, this one will give you perspective into the Communist period when various nations from Yugoslavia worked together in order to host first succeessful Winter Olympic Games in a Communist country.
Sarajevo hosted XIV Winter Olympic Games 1984 and the facilities used for this event are still representing the pride of Sarajevo.
In our falf-day Olympic Tour in Sarajevo we will visit Olympic Stadium Kosevo and Olympic Hall Zetra where the Olympic Museum is also located. After that, we continue to our three beautiful Olympic mountains – Bjelasnica, Igman and Trebevic.
We invite you to join this tour and find out why Sarajevo has been declared as the best host of Winter Olympic Games of the time.
Meet Bosnia Travel, Gazi Husrev-begova 75 (Google Map)
9:00 am
Sarajevo Olympic mountains tour starts with visit to the Olympic Stadium where opening ceremonies of the 1984 Winter Olympics took place. For this event it was thoroughly renovated and expanded. It’s a multi-purpose stadium which was built in 1947 in the period after World War II. Former Youth Work Brigades from all parts of the country participated in the construction of the stadium. The stadium hosted major soccer teams as Manchester United, Real Madrid, Inter, etc. Also, it hosted celebrating mass twice. First time in 1997 by Pope John Paul II and second time in 2015 by Pope Francis. Now the stadium is home to football club FK Sarajevo and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team. The club proposed the new name Asim Ferhatovic – Hase in honor to its former footballer and club’s legend.
Olympic Hall Zetra was constructed for the 1984 Winter Olympics. Described as “ultramodern” facility, it hosted the ice hockey games and speed skating events in the Olympics.
The complex went up in flames when it was hit by grenade fire in 1992 just like the rest of the facilities was also badly damaged during the last war. With the help from the International Olympic Committee, Zetra was reconstructed at the end of the 1990’s. Since that time, it has been named Juan Antonio Samaranch, in memory of the long-term President of the IOC and a great friend of Sarajevo. It served as the venue for several international speed skating events. Several world records were broken here. It was the main venue of the 2019 European Youth Winter Olympic Festival, but we will all remember it by breathtaking pereformance in ice skating – a bolero dansed by Jane Torvill and Cristopher Deen.
Even more than thirty-five years after the Olympics You can still see Vucko, the Olympic mascot, and Olympic logo standing on a tower. Vucko came in the guise of a wolf. An animal typically found in the forests of the Dinaric Alps region. Through his smiling, frightened or serious facial expressions, Vucko gave the wolf a rather friendly appearance. It changed the usually ferocious image of this animal. Vucko embodies courage and strength and was a symbol of winter and the triumph of good over evil. The happy Vucko is also the symbol of man’s centuries-old efforts to conquer nature, to gain friendship from a beast, to make a wolf become Vucko. We will see the mascot Vucko at Olympic Village Mojmilo.
After panorama of Sarajevo and stories related to the Olympics, Sarajevo guide will take you to three beautiful mountains.
First on our way is mountain Bjelasnica which is the highest part of the Dinaric Mountains. It is also the best ski center in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. Alpine skiing disciplines of the Olympic Games were held on this mountain where you can take a cable car and enjoy fresh mountain air. In a beautiful mountain house, we can enjoy hot tea.
After Bjelasnica, Olympic Tour in Sarajevo continues to mountain Igman. On this mountain competition held in Nordic skiing, biathlon, and leaps took place. You can see jumping slopes still standing there.
After Igman we will proceed to the Olympic mountain Trebevic – a beuatiful mountain connected with Sarajevo by cable car. From the top of Trebevic you can enjoy the most beautiful panoramic view of Sarajevo. The mountain is known for competition in bob and sledging. For that purpose huge concrete construction has been built in the middle of mountain. During your walk on top of the bob sleigh track that became one of most recognizing landmarks of Sarajevo.you can take amazing photos.
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We did the tour without any deeper knowledge about the 1984 Olympics and we were surprised what impact it had for the people and the city – until these days. Our guide was super friendly and tried to give us all the answers to our questions. We visited the Olympic hall, the skiing mountain, the destroyed Olympic hotel, the remains of the ski jump venue and the bobsleigh in a mountain with a perfect view over Sarajevo
Again I booked this tour on a private one to one tour with my guide and now friend Senad. He was excellent and a pleasure to spend time with and is very knowledgeable of his country. The mountains are absolutely stunning and are set up well for winter skiing. I managed to get Senad onto the ski lift for a journey up the mountain and past the Olympic ski jumps. Such beautiful views and of course Bosnia is blessed with awesome summer weather as well as perfect winters for skiing. After our ski lift we sat and had a Bosnian coffee and talked at the cafe . Senad was great company and a good representation of the friendly helpful staff Meet Bosnia Travel employ. He took me to a mosque in the mountains built by the defending soldiers in the war and WOW !! an amazing place and hidden location you would never find unless directed. Its this type of extra service I got from this company on all 6 of my days using them to show me around and educate me. Another must for mountain lovers and peaceful stunning views . There’s even a playground and a ride or two for the kids and a football pitch in the summer at the base of the ski jumps. Another location and tour worth taking without doubt
