In Summary

On our 2019 first visit to B&H, we barreled through the popular tourist destinations of Mostar, Trebinje and Sarajevo in 10 days. This year, we returned to Sarajevo for five weeks, and chose it as our annual Medical Month destination, having put it on our list of “Known Knowns.” Turns out, that wasn’t the best decision for us…

Below is our personal list of stats, money saving tips, and personal upsides and downsides for the country.

Time Spent: 43 nights 

Money Spent: $2487 or $57.83/day USD/two people. By comparison, we spent $47.17/day in 2019 and were fast traveling. This breaks down to:

• $1254 (Accommodation)/$30/night avg. (averaged $18/night in 2019)
• $743 (Groceries)/$18/day avg. ($6/day in 2019)
• $302 (Transportation)
• $98 (Restaurants/4 meals +4 treats) (we spent $90 in 2019, but ate out 9 meals+4 treats) 
• $91 (General)

Our itinerary: 

• (1) night, Zvornik
• (34) nights, Sarajevo 
• (8) nights, Banja Luka 
• Day Trips included: Visoko (Bosnian Pyramids & Jajce 

Favorite places: Jajce & Počitelj (2019 visit)

Would we return? To Sarajevo, possibly for quick medical. But overall, we were quite done with that city after five weeks. To Banja Luka, also probably no. To Bosnia & Herzegovina in general? Yes, but only if and when we’re able to afford a rental car for an extended period. Overall, it won’t be a high priority return. There are other places in the Balkans that speak to us more.

What We Did Right

• Sarajevo was a terrific place to do medical. It’s affordable and professional. And it was a situation where I needed time to recover, so that in itself was good. 
• We timed our stay in Sarajevo very well, weather wise and we escaped much of Europe’s heat waves. Even with an un-air-conditioned apartment, it was a pleasant temperature until late July/early August. 
• The day trip to Visoko was interesting and affordable due to a train option from Sarajevo
• Spending a night in the border town of Zvornik and visiting the free and completely desolate fortress ruins 
• Choosing great apartments in a quiet location in both places.

What We Should Have Done Differently

• In Sarajevo, booked a place closer to the hospital, a swimming pool/parks and a bigger supermarket. Where we booked in the hills up from old town may have been quiet and fitting for a quick visit, but it was far from ideal for daily living. 
• We should have leapfrogged from Sarajevo to Banja Luka and stayed a couple nights in Travnik, a couple in Jajce, and the rest in BL
• On the day we visited the bobsled track in Sarajevo, we should have taken a lunch and stayed up in the hills hiking longer. We missed a few sites because we weren’t prepared, and we had expected the chairlift to be more affordable, so this was our only time up there.  

Best Budget Saving Tips

• Avoid long distance buses and take the train when you can
• Buy fresh fruit/veg from pensioners on streets or supermarkets; we got noticeably ripped off three times at the local markets.
• Stay for a month in one place for deeper discounts. This goes for almost anywhere and has been a true advantage to our new, more intentional, slow-down plan.
• Cook the majority of your meals in, or pack picnics. Duh. Of course, this also goes for almost everywhere.

Our Upsides

• Bosnia & Herzegovina has beautiful natural landscapes and lovely villages which are wonderful when you can access them.
• Most Bosnians speak some English thanks to their mandatory and early exposure to the language. 
• They had a decent local red wine called Blatina.
• ASA Bolnica (hospital) was a professional and economical option to visit the ophthalmologist ($55/same day appointment) and to have my first colonoscopy & endoscopy ($600, including consultation, all meds and follow-up appointment.) I was very happy with my gastroenterologist, Dr. Nazda Sivac as well.
• We received incredibly warm hospitality from our hosts in Banja Luka.
• The weather, as previously mentioned, was in the mid to upper 20s (70s/low 80s F) most of July.  
• The tap water is delicious; and there are plenty of mosques to refill your bottle when out and about.
• The city has a plethora of cute cafes and bars; and most of them were good about providing chairs with cushions 
• It’s a cat city; we always love walking around and feeding the kitties.
• We loved Tropic supermarket in Banja Luka.
• We did have two hikes we enjoyed a lot in Sarajevo: the bobsled track and surrounding areas and Skakavac Waterfall, which, with some effort we were able to access by local bus. Bosne Springs was also nice.
• Banja Luka was pleasant, tree-lined and uncrowded.

Our Downsides

• Like most places in Europe, Sarajevo is now super crowded in the summer. We don’t remember this being the case in July 2019.
• The grocery stores were a bit of a jumble and most quite congested where we were located. (Sarajevo) Thus, we usually had to go to at least 3 or 4 to get the things we wanted and it was rarely a pleasant experience.
• That said, we really missed Lidl! They are non-existent in B&H. We also spent way more money shopping at Mercator and Hoše, and they were all closed on Sundays.
• We would have shopped at Bingo more often, which is the cheapest market. However, it was located much further down the monster hill we had to climb anytime we went anywhere. 
• Yes, the hills were ultimately not too fun despite the great glute and cardio workouts we got daily. We were never able to find a pleasant workout route, unfortunately.
• Taxis were challenging the two times we rode in them. There are no globally recognized taxi apps, so you have to rely on MojTaxi which has a poor interface. When we were successful getting a taxi through it, we got ripped off one of the times.
• Taxis drivers nearly ran us over several times the way they fly up the narrow and winding hills, which often had no accessible sidewalks. 
• We were not able to hike from Sarajevo nearly as much as we had anticipated. The $12/ticket one way chair lift was a big factor. 
• The smoking. Oh my goodness, it feels like 40 years ago in the States. Every restaurant or cafe…although fortunately buses no longer allow it.
• We’re not crazy about Bosnian food either. Most of it is red meat-centric and heavy for our taste. We ate out much more in 2019.
• Even though buses and trams were on Google they were never even close to the correct times.
• The trams are also regularly packed and the payment system direct to the driver is incredibly inefficient
• Long distance buses are astronomically more expensive than trains, and then they charge you for luggage as well, sometimes even a “foreigner” fee.
• Ice cream and beer was about double the price as our previous month in Serbia.
• Car rental was challenging when we tried in Banja Luka. We could not find anywhere that had availability, or would allow a one-day rental in the center. Greg finally reserved a 35€ day option at the airport, one hour a way by transit. Unfortunately, the public bus to get to the airport (again, according to Google and Chat) never came so we ended up losing the rental and the 35€. It was incredibly frustrating. A taxi to get out there would have been 40€ (each way!) making it cost prohibitive. 
• Overall, we found the buses and restaurants simply a poorer value compared to our time in 2019. Groceries, like everywhere were also significantly more expensive, but at $100 more per month than the previous month in Serbia.