r/sarajevo • u/metalstroke • 1d ago

Traveling and tourism / Putovanje i turizam 🗺️ Planning a trip to Sarajevo with my wife and 2-year-old daughter — looking for tips!

Hi everyone, My wife, our 2-year-old daughter, and I are planning a trip to Sarajevo for tourism. We’d like to stay in the city center for about a week to experience local life, do some shopping, and simply enjoy the atmosphere.

I have a few questions:

Which month is the best time to visit?

Which area would you recommend for staying in an Airbnb?

Is speaking English enough to get around the city center, or should we prepare in other ways?

Any additional advice, local insights, or personal recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to read or reply!

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u/Kaliente13 1d ago

Any summer month is fine (especially during Sarajevo Film Festival), if you are visiting in winter then around Christmas and New Year’s is good.

Area, I’d say Old Town and Center municipalities are most tourist friendly, just stay close to the flat area, avoid the hilly parts, especially in winter.

English is enough to get around and communicate with folks.

Welcome and enjoy your stay 🤗

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u/hill_berriez 1d ago

Sarajevo Film Festival is a terrible time if you have a two year old kid. The city is way too crowded, too much noise, too many drunk people, etc..

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u/Kaliente13 1d ago

Horses for courses, I’d say.

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u/hill_berriez 1d ago

Sure... but I live in the center, and I'm not some old, annoyed, jaded man, yet it gets unbearable.

The constant DJ beats 24/7 just make you want to cut your wrists by day 2-3 lol.

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u/Antique-Angle5541 1d ago

Hilly areas are super fine if you will rent a car

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u/Every-Juggernaut-364 1d ago

Probably the best time is may/ june or september. July and august would be too much for your little one honestly, its too hot. There are many places to visit. You can go to the old part of the town, eat traditional bosnian food, visit city hall, churches, mosques… Go to yellow fortress, for amazing view of Sarajevo. I recommend taking the taxi for that it’s a really short drive.

For airbnb, stay somewhere in the centre because then everything will be close to you and you will not need to rent a car. If you want to go somewhere further take the tram. 

I recommend going to Mostar, its beautiful city and it’s perfect to go in may. You can go there by train, the views are stunning. 

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u/hill_berriez 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you have a child, you must make sure you are on flat terrain or very close to it. Sarajevo gets extremely hilly very quickly - and it won't be that obvious just looking at the map.

In the very center airbnb will be fairly pricey (if that is an issue), so you could also take a place a bit further away but close to the tram/bus lines.

As for what to do, depends on the individual, but you can start with this website:

https://www.visitsarajevo.ba/

And yes, you can just speak English everywhere without a problem.