The Sarajevo Total Siege Tour is one of the most captivating and insightful experiences you can have when visiting Sarajevo. Guided by a local survivor, this half-day tour provides a deep dive into the history of the longest siege in modern warfare, offering firsthand perspectives and a fact-based understanding of the conflict.
Over the course of four hours, visit key locations such as the War Tunnel Museum, Jewish Cemetery, and Olympic Mountain Trebević, home to the iconic Olympic Bobsled Track. Each site reveals critical aspects of the Siege of Sarajevo, the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Genocide in Srebrenica, and the broader war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
PEACE OF MIND BY FUNKY TOURS: To ensure a seamless experience, the entrance fee (7.67 EUR per person) to the War Tunnel Museum is included. The tour combines unbiased insights, historical accuracy, and firsthand accounts to offer a meaningful and balanced perspective on one of the most significant events in recent history.
PEACE OF MIND by Funky Tours policy ensures 100% guest’ satisfaction and hassle-free experiences when booking and conducting tours and holidays with us. You can learn more about our Peace of Mind policy.
Departure Times Twice a day: March – October 9 AM / 2 PM, November – February 9 AM / 1 PM.
Pickup Locations If you are staying in the old town of Sarajevo, meet us at our office. Please let us know if you are a bit away from us, and we can organize advance pickup.
Activity Note: The tour is adapted to all ages and is not physically demanding. Due to the distance of the locations, we use vehicles during the tour, but most of the tour is done on foot.
Meet our team at the office or at your preferred pickup location. Your guide is a Sarajevo Siege survivor who will introduce you to the story of the Breakup of Yugoslavia and the Siege of Sarajevo and will make sure no questions remain unanswered, even of a personal nature, so don’t refrain from sharing your thoughts and opinions at any moment.
The day’s first stop is the Ex Hotel Holiday Inn a story about the infamous Sarajevo Sniper Alley. Built for the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics, today called Hotel Holiday, during the Siege, was home to various foreign journalists and reporters reporting on the Bosnian war and the Siege of Sarajevo. A short walk along the infamous Sniper Alley and a few exciting stories related to this place are planned.
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The next stop of the day will be the War Tunnel Museum – Tunnel of Hope, which was the major “blood vessel” for the heavily sieged and destroyed city. At the Tunnel, we shall see a short movie about the War in Sarajevo and Tunnel, followed by going through the Tunnel itself.
At the exhibition part of the museum, we will have the opportunity to see many interesting exhibits directly connected with the Siege of Sarajevo.
The trip to and inside the tunnel is covered with an authentic first-person experience of a classy guide, a survivor of the Siege of Sarajevo, who is always willing to answer questions (no matter what they are). We will learn about the origins of the War on the Balkans and the Death of Yugoslavia, the dreams Serbian leaders had, and how they succeeded in seducing a large number of Serbian nationalists throughout the whole Balkans and making them go to war.
We pass by:
Read more about the Sarajevo War Tunnel: A Crude 1,000-Yard Tunnel Is Sarajevo’s Secret Lifeline (NY Times)
After the Tunnel, we head toward the mountain Trebević, which, by the vast majority of its length, was a first line during the Siege and place of many battles on many battlefields.
We can see where the actual destruction appeared at the site, such as Zlatište, Osmice, Trebević Vidikovac, and many other destroyed facilities and sites.
Moreover, we will see the remains of bunkers, minefields, military tank caterpillar traces, tranches, bullets and grenade shrapnels, and many, many other exciting sites of destruction, which today, at present, haven’t yet been repaired or restored. They stand there like two decades later; the war hasn’t ended yet.
Sarajevo Bobsleigh, initially built for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, is one of the main highlights of the tour. Once there, we can admire the Yugoslavian brutalist architecture and learn more about the unfortunate events that took place at this location during the Siege of Sarajevo since it used to stand on one of the main front lines. However, Bobsled is today featured at the top of the world’s most beautiful abandoned places lists. It holds a fantastic amount of graffiti by artists from around the World, and you have a chance to see them all.
We pass by:
The 33 Most Beautiful Abandoned Places In The World
The tour is enriched with fantastic panorama views, especially from the top of Trebević mountain. There, you will get the natural feeling of how the great mice and cats game had been played and how the Republic of Srpska forces (VRS), with such a great advantage, never got the real chance to take over Sarajevo city.
Upon return to the city, the day’s last stop will be the Jewish Cemetery, known for its historical importance as it is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. However, during the Siege of Sarajevo, it was the Republic of Srpska army’s main front line and sniper nest, overlooking the infamous Sniper Alley.
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The tour ends in the old town of Sarajevo.
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What you will learn during the Sarajevo Siege Tour?
What Do I Need to Bring?
1. Does this tour itinerary includes visit to Sarajevo War Tunnel Museum?
Yes, our Sarajevo Siege tour does include a visit to Sarajevo War Tunnel Museum.
2. Does this tour include Sarajevo War Tunnel Museum entrance fee?
Yes it does.
3. How can I pay this tour?
You can pay this tour either in cash (EUR, BAM, USD, GBP) or by credit card (VISA and MasterCard).
4. Can this tour be combined with Sarajevo airport pickup or drop off?
This tour is the best way to combine Sarajevo airport pickup or drop off, and save the costs. Our tour departs at 9 AM and 2 PM every day. If your arrival flight is around 12 or 1 PM, it is ideal that we pick you up at 2 PM at the airport and go straight for the tour. The first stop of the tour is the Tunnel Museum, and being under the airport it is ideal. If your flight is leaving Sarajevo at 3 PM or later 7 PM or so, you can join our tour with you luggage and at the end of tour we drop you off at the airport.
In this way you only pay the costs of the tour and get transfer for free.
5. What time does Sarajevo War Tunnel open and close?
Opening times of the Sarajevo War Tunnel Museum are:
1st April – 31st October
09:00 – 17:00 (last entrance 16:30)
1st November – 31st March
09:00 – 16:00 (last entrance 15:30)
6. How do I get to the War Tunnel Museum on my own?
The best way to get to the Sarajevo War Tunnel on your own is to take Tram number three from Sarajevo city centre to Ilidza (last station). Once off the train you have three options:
1) Take a TAXI (price around 6 BAM – cca.3 EUR)
2) Take a bus #32A which leaves from Ilidza bus station to Donji Kotorac
3) Take a 30-40 min walk to address Tuneli 1 at Donji Kotorac
Additional option is to use trolley bus #103 from Sarajevo city centre – Trg Austrije to Dobrinja. Once you get out on the last station at Dobrinja, find your way with Google Maps for another 25-30 min walk to the Sarajevo War Tunnel Museum.
7. Do I need to book in advance my visit to Sarajevo War Tunnel Museum?
Our Sarajevo War Tunnel tour is limited to maximum 8 travelers and two daily departures, meaning if you are traveling in the peak of the season from May to October, it might happen that tour is booked out on certain dates, so that is why we recommend booking War Tunnel Tour in advance if possible. Also make use of Funky Tours 24hrs free of charge cancellation and cancel tour anytime.
8. How far is Sarajevo War Tunnel from Sarajevo city centre?
Depending on the road you take, Sarajevo War Tunnel is between 11.5 and 13.5 km far away from the Sarajevo old town Bascarsija. Driving time is around 25 minutes.
The available routes to get to Sarajevo War Tunnel are via Ilidza or East Sarajevo – Lukavica.
9. Can children visit Sarajevo War Tunnel museum?
The story narrative, video and photo material at the Sarajevo War Tunnel is adjusted to any age and even young kids can visit without a fear that the story is too strong for them.
10. Is the Sarajevo War Tunnel wheelchair friendly to visit?
Sarajevo War Tunnel most of the open space video and photo exhibition is “relatively” wheelchair friendly. However you need to have someone to assist you.
The actual part of the tunnel, museum part in the house and basement part of the exhibition are not wheelchair or accessible friendly.
For more information please contact the Tunnel management directly at: info@tunelspasa.ba.
Four excellent tours with Funky Tours
As well as a 2 day transfer from Sarajevo, we also enjoyed a transfer from Kotor to Mostar, a wine tour from Mostar and the Sarajevo Seige tour.
All the guides were friendly, informative and patient, and their passion for Bosnia and Herzegovina was infectious.
The Funky Tours team responded quickly and helpfully to our enquiries. Funky Tours gave us a wonderful time in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Fascinating tour with Omer.
This was an absolutely fascinating half-day tour with Omer on behalf of Funky Tours.
Omer was a brilliant guide and told us about the siege from his perspective growing up in Bosnia during that time. We found it very humbling being shown the sites of the war, Omer’s own village that had suffered from being showered with shells and bullets and of course Sniper’s alley in Sarajevo.
We learned about the breakup of Yugoslavia and also the Genocide in Srebrenica. Incredibly moving. Omer also drove us to the Olympic mountain where the remains of the 1984 Olympic buildings and Bob sled track are now overgrown with nature, and also to the Jewish cemetery.
At the end of the tour Omer kindly took us to the Yellow Fortress as an extra stop, where the views of the city are wonderful. Thank you Omer and Funky tours for a tour we will never forget.
High quality and customer friendly tours.
Very friendly and very professional. Nice car to travel in. Very knowledgeable guide who shared their experiences during the siege and since then but also was very knowledgable on the general history and politics.
We also did the Sarajevo-Mostar private transfer (& return) which was great. The guide/driver was great fun and very knowledgeable. While they were a bit late due to the marathon on that day, some one from funky Tours came to meet us personally and offered to buy us coffee which was customer service above anything I would have expected.
So I would highly recommend this very professional but very customer focused company and thank them for making our trip to Sarajevo so enjoyable and rewarding.
Informative tour about modern history
Excellent tour. I did this tour (and the walking tour) on my first full day in Sarajevo and it was well timed as it helped put everything into context for the rest of my trip.
Our guide was excellent and hearing about his experiences as a teenager during the Siege was fascinating. The places visited are interesting as well.
Would recommend in order to understand the modern history of Sarajevo.
Sensational tour driven by a war survivor
Amazing tour driven by Salem, a survivor from Sarajevo siege.
He was explaining with a lot of details and in a very enthusiastic and inspiring manner all that happened during the war and also was responding all the questions we made to him about it, and also about the past and present situation.
We had a great experience and we highly recommend to anyone to take this tour.