The Coolest Neighbourhoods In Sarajevo Bosnia

Sarajevo mixes Ottoman and modern skyscrapers, elegant Austro-Hungarian buildings with drab socialist blocks. Each of the city’s neighbourhoods have their own characteristics, attractions and stories to tell. Here are the most interesting to check out on your trip to Sarajevo.

Sarajevo’s neighbourhoods

Modern Sarajevo’s story dates back six centuries. The Ottomans created a central commercial zone, Bascarsija, in the same way as they did many other Bosnian old towns. Residential hamlets grew up in the surrounding hills with their own mosques and bakeries. The Austro-Hungarians, and later Yugoslavia, extended these, forming modern-day Sarajevo.

Walking west through the neighbourhoods is like travelling through time, from Ottoman Bascarsija to the more central Austro-Hungarian and socialist districts.

Hillside neighbourhoods

If you stand in Sarajevo and look around, you’ll see houses rising from the surrounding hills. Orange roofs contrast with blue sky and green hills, with a minaret popping up every now and again. These are Sarajevo’s oldest residential areas. People have long lived in small hillside neighbourhoods, only coming down to Bascarsija to trade. Most such neighbourhoods have a mosque, so residents didn’t have to go up and down five times each day for their prayers. Hike up the steep roads and stroll along old streets to glimpse Sarajevo’s history.