Utopia of Tito’s Yugoslavia, Tito’s Bunker & Siege of Sarajevo
Description
PEACE OF MIND: Our products always include admission fees to essential museums/attractions we visit Get a firsthand account of the atmosphere of Yugoslavian social-communism by visiting Tito’s Nuclear Bunker in the nearby town Konjic, highlights of the Yugoslavian golden age and its downfall with the story of the Siege of Sarajevo from a guide who survived it. Travel to Konjic town, and visit the Tito’s Nuclear Bunker, Olympic Village, War Tunnel Museum in an air-conditioned minivan with a small group and learn about „soft communism“, golden era of Yugoslavia, the breakup of Yugoslavia and the years-long siege of Sarajevo. After Konjic, drive to Igman mountain and explore it’s famous sights of Olympic Ski Jumps and Hotel Igman. Later visit Trebevic Mountain and famous Olympic Bobsled and before the end visit Jewish Cemetery, site heavily interesting from perspective of Jewish history in the Balkans and story of Siege of Sarajevo.
Tour Options
Itinerary
First stop of the day is a short visit to old part of unique, prehistorically inhabited Konjic, town famous for its 17th century 6-arch Old Bridge, looming over turquoise Neretva river, usually very sunny place and a home to one of the most expensive Yugoslavian projects – Tito’s Nuclear Bunker, or also called: Facility D-0, Atomic War Command (ARK).
It took 26 years to build this 6500 m2 miracle of construction with a purpose of withstanding a possible nuclear war and providing a shelter to over 350 Yugoslav leaders and army generals. We will wander around this amazing structure and venue for a biennial of contemporary art while discovering the labyrinth of Yugoslavia mysteries, cold war fanaticism and communists paranoia while discussing the possible reasons of fall of Yugoslavia and it’s rigid consequences. As a third most expensive JNA military project with spendings of cca. 4.6 billion USD, facility D-0, Tito’s atomic war command (ARK), was built to accept, accommodate and protect 350 people and enable successful management and command over the armed forces in case of nuclear warfare.
We will head towards Sarajevo and follow up the story of besieged city and harsh position its citizens went through in a barbaric bargain for life. Initial visit will be Igman Olympic mountain and its Olympic heritage in shape of Olympic Ski Jumps. Take photos at Olympic podium or climb the ski jumps and imagine the atmosphere from 1984 Olympics.Also structure we can not miss at Igman mountain is, Igman Olympic hotel. As Yahoo Travel wrote: “Built in a spirit of optimism, unity, and teamwork for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, the 162-room Igman Hotel was a showplace for mountain luxury but was brutally torn apart, along with the rest of the city, during the Balkan War and siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s.”
We will visit the Sarajevo War Tunnel where we will explore the museum exhibition and see many interesting exhibits directly associated with Siege of Sarajevo, watch a short movie about the urgent need for building this essential underpass, followed by going through the Tunnel itself.
After the Tunnel museum, we will head towards the famous Olympic Mt. Trebevic while passing through the Olympic Village Dobrinja. We will hear additional stories about 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games and visit Olympic Village Dobrinja with its Olympic story and its painful but heroic war story. Learn about besieged neighbourhood in a besieged city. Our next location will be Trebević, Olympic Mt. which by vast majority of its length was a first line during the Siege and place of many battles on many battlefields. At the site we have the opportunity to see where the real destruction appeared such as Zlatište, Osmice, Sarajevo Bobsleigh from the period of 1984 Winter Olympics (today featured at the top of the Worlds most beautiful abandoned places lists), Trebević Vidikovac and many other destroyed facilities and sites. We shall see the remains of bunkers, minefields, tank caterpillar traces, tranches, bullet and grenade shrapnel and many many other interesting sites of destruction, which today, at the present time, haven’t yet being repaired or restored. They just stand there like the 22 years after the war haven’t even passed already. The tour is very much enriched with great panorama views, especially from the very top of Trebević mountain where you get the real feeling what 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 last stop of the day will be Jewish Cemetery, known for its historical importance as it is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe, but during the Siege of Sarajevo was the main front line and sniper nest of the Republic of Srpska army.
We take the walk down the famous 1984 Olympic Bobsled track. It is famous for its historical importance and is amazing street art paradise.
One of the largest European Jewish cemeteries once was front line during the Sarajevo Siege from 1992 until 1995. It was overlooking Sarajevo Sniper Alley and was one of many sniper nests of Army of Republic Srpska.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We can arrange a pick up from any hotel in Sarajevo or meet our guests at our office in the old town.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(38)
The tour was just a few people and our tour guide was Samir. He was incredibly knowledgeable both about the tour stops and about all of my questions about life in Yugoslavia, the UN’s intervention (or lack thereof) in the breakdown of Yugoslavia, and many other cultural and historical questions. Overall, I felt that I got far more out of this tour than I thought I would when I booked it, given Samir’s experience and knowledge.
It was a fantastic tour! Adnond (not sure of spelling) was such a great guide. He was friendly and his knowledge was amazing. His personal experiences during the war made for interesting stories and provided an important added context to what we saw. I really like history, dark tourism and abandoned places, and this tour combined those things in a unique way that was was absolutely fascinating. I learned so much and would highly recommend this tour to anyone. Besides the actual tour, the communication with Funky Tours was very thorough, prompt, friendly, and helpful. After this experience, I would happily book another tour with Funky Tours.
Wear boots! If there is snow in the mountains, you will need them! Terik and Amela were amazing!!!!! * We booked an English tour at Titos bunker and although the main guide was speaking English, there was a large tour bus that had a guide that would translate to Czech. I feel it held our guide back from talking too much since the Czech guide was struggling to keep up.
Salim was our tour guide and was an actual soldier during the war in the 90s for the Bosnians. He shared with us a lot of his personal experiences and thoughts from the war period and it was quite moving. This is really what drew me to this tour and it did not disappoint. The tunnel of life museum is really a must see. Tito bunker is apparently a modern art museum thing now in addition to being a bunker so you’ll see interesting art in random rooms of the bunkers (seemed really odd at first but I kinda got into it as the tour went on). We ended at the bobsled tracks. My recommendation here is to take the cable car down to old town instead of driving back in the car (since you’ll have been driving a lot already that day). It does cost 20 marks. Also … Bring LUNCH and water. The tour doesn’t stop for lunch and you’ll be with the tour group all day. Also… I just love driving in this country. You’ll see what I’m talking about when you get here
Thank you for your detailed review! We’re delighted to hear that Salim’s personal experiences made the tour meaningful and that you enjoyed visiting the Tunnel of Life, Tito's Bunker, and the Bobsled track. We appreciate the tips about the cable car, lunch and water, they will be very helpful for future travelers. We appreciate your feedback and are happy your day exploring with us was memorable! Kind regards, FT team
Tito's bunker and the Tunnel of Hope are one of the spots in Bosnia you should not miss. We had a great experience with Funky Tours and our guide Hamza. I have to point out the visiting of Tito's bunker as the ultimate highlight, there is a full tour around with local guide. Also, the trip is very well balanced with visiting the mountains and the possibility to see the former Olympic places. Would definitely recommend.
The tour was just great. Our guide was very professional and knowledgeble. It was definitely a positive and inspiring exoerience and I definitely recommend It to those who would like to know more about this country and ita history.
We have just had a fantastic time on the day tour that Funky Tours organised to see Tito’s bunker the Tunnel of Hope and other important sites around Sarajevo. Our guide had been involved in protecting Sarajevo during the siege and his stories and experiences really brought the tour to life. Tito’s bunker itself is an incredible trip back in time to the Cold War era I can’t imagine they is anywhere like this in the world and us for me a must see on a trip to Bosnia. Finally all the staff at Funky Tours are amazing they made booking the trip effortless and the trip we have done with Funky Tours gave been the highlight of our trip. Highly recommended.
The Tour was very well organised, instructions were clear, very serious company! I was in a very small group for this Tour! Mustafa was a great driver as well as a wonderful guide! He replied to all our questions even the most political ones! This Tour was so interesting and emotional! Thank you
My wife and I were on the 9am tour. Our meeting point was at the Funky Tours office, about a 2 minute walk from our hotel. There we met Amela. We had a very nice visit with her while we waited for 2 others that would be on the tour with us, and the guide. We all met minutes later. Harm was our guide for the day. Let me just say that he was a great guide, and driver. We were driven around in a comfy van, with good visibility out the windows. We visited the tunnel of hope first. Harm was our own personal guide too. From there we drove to the Tito bunker. We arrived right at noon, and began the tour immediately. After that we started our drive back to Sarajevo, with a quick lunch break snack. Then a drive to the Olympic ski jumps, and then on to the medal presentation stand at the base of the ski jump area. All of this was super cool. And the drive from Sarajevo proper, to the ski jumps was quite lovely. Along the Way we could make stops for pictures. From there it was off to the bobsled track. Another fun drive to get there. Harm dropped us off at a cool section of the track, then offered to us that we could walk downhill a ways, on the track, and meet him and the van at that point. A fun walk, and very scenic. Heading back down in to Sarajevo we made a stop at the abandoned Olympic hotel, and an abandoned restaurant, perched above the city, used and destroyed in the war. We were then dropped off in town, walking distance to our pickup point. This was a full day of touring. I think we got back between 5-6pm. We loved this tour, and I would do it again if I had the chance. Harm made the tour so enjoyable.
Beautiful day and very interesting visits. Very touching testimonies from our Guide. The agency changed our Reservation without charge because due to a communication problem, we had missed the appointment time. Thanks a lot.
