What to eat in Sarajevo

In Sarajevo the dish is chosen by the hour. A pita comes in the morning and ćevapi at midday, and coffee and something sweet arrive whenever you sit down, with nobody hurrying you off the chair. The city rewards a slow table, and the names below are the ones guides in 2026 keep returning to, most of them in Baščaršija.

Sarajevo ćevapi are small, shaped by hand and tucked into a somun, the soft flatbread that also soaks up the juices. You order a desetka, which means ten pieces, or a petka for a lighter lunch. Kajmak, the thick cream, comes only on request and with a surcharge. The price is on the board in marks, and a portion costs €4–6 (8–12 KM).

Željo and Petica Ferhatović stand in Baščaršija, Hodžić is near the Sebilj, and Mrkva and Zmaj od Bosne lie off the main tourist path. The streets given for Željo differ from one source to the next, so look for it in the bazaar and follow the smoke. If you want a verdict, take the place with the shortest queue near the Sebilj on a first visit and one of the two off the path on a second.

Burek, sirnica and zeljanica

Here burek means only a pita with meat, nothing else. A pita with cheese is a sirnica, with spinach a zeljanica and with potato a krompiruša, and "pita" is the common name for the whole family. So the cliché that burek is any pie rolled in pastry stops at the bakery counter, where you say which one you want, and the word you choose tells the baker everything. A piece from a bakery costs €1.50–3 (3–6 KM), so it makes a cheap and filling start to the day.

Soup, stew and stuffed dishes

Begova čorba is a soup of meat and vegetables, and it is the dish to order when the sky is grey and the lanes are wet. Order it first, since the rest of the table will follow. Bosanski lonac is meat cooked over a fire, and sogan-dolma is an onion filled with meat. Sarma completes the list, and a table of four can taste most of it in one sitting.

In a restaurant the usual price is €6–10 (main course), and for a sit-down meal with history around it, Morića Han in Sarači, built in 1551, has a restaurant of national cuisine in the courtyard, and the shops of the han stay open around it.

Coffee and something sweet

Bosnian coffee is served in a cafe, slowly, and a cup costs €1–2 (2–4 KM). A cake with coffee costs €2.50–4.50 (5–9 KM), and the sweet shelf is where the Ottoman centuries show. Order tufahija, a whole cooked apple stuffed with walnuts, or hurmašica, a sweet soaked in syrup, and if you want the familiar choice, baklava and rahat lokum sit in the same cabinets. Nobody will ask you to leave before the cup is empty.

Where to sit down

The shortlist fits in a table, with the prices posted on each board in marks. Opening hours and closing days change over the year, so look at the door when you arrive.

Prices are posted in marks; opening hours and closing days change.

BudgetThe budget page adds the meals to the tickets and shows what a day of eating and sightseeing costs.What Sarajevo costs →

3 daysThe three-day plan slots the ćevapi, the coffee and a lunch stop between the museums and the hill.Sarajevo in 3 days →

Where to stayA bed in Baščaršija puts these tables a short walk from the door, and the page on where to stay compares the districts.Where to stay in Sarajevo →

Getting aroundGetting around covers the tram and the ticket you will need to reach the places off the main path.Getting around Sarajevo →

When to goWhen to go sets the seasons, from the winter air to the film festival in August.The best time to visit Sarajevo →

Day tripsDay trips from the city carry their own meals, and that page tells you what to expect on the way.Day trips from Sarajevo →

MistakesThe mistakes page gathers what catches first-time visitors out, including cards that the tables do not always take.Mistakes everyone makes in Sarajevo →

Hidden gemsWhen lunch is over, Svrzo’s House, the Brusa Bezistan and the Jewish Museum wait on the page about quieter places.Sarajevo off the main path: houses, a bezistan and a bobsled track →

MuseumsBetween two meals, the museums page says which museum is open on which day and what the ticket costs.Museums in Sarajevo →