Vrelo Bosne

At the foot of Mount Igman on the western edge of Sarajevo, water that has run underground through the limestone surfaces in a series of springs and immediately forms the river Bosna, which gives the country its name. The Austro-Hungarian administration turned the site into a park in the 1890s, laying out islets, footbridges and channels among willows and planting a long avenue of plane trees, the Velika Aleja, that runs about three and a half kilometres from Ilidža to the entrance and is traditionally covered on foot or in a horse-drawn carriage. It has been Sarajevo's Sunday walk ever since. The water is startlingly clear and cold, ducks and swans work the channels, and the whole thing is a short tram ride from the city centre.

History

Ilidža nearby is an archaeological site of 2400-2000 BC, and not far from the springs the Roman Bridge over the Bosna was built between 1530 and 1550 from the stones of a Roman bridge that once led to the settlement of Aquae Sulphurae. The straight main avenue to the park, the Velika Aleja, is lined with buildings of the Austro-Hungarian era, and in 2000 local young people, led by an international ecological organisation, restored the park to its former look (Wikipedia, Vrelo Bosne).

The landscape

• The springs - the clear water surfacing to form the river Bosna.
• The islets and bridges - the laid-out park of channels and footbridges.
• Velika Aleja - the long plane-tree avenue leading to the park.
• The horse carriages - the traditional ride down the avenue.

When to go

April to October is greenest, with autumn colour along the avenue particularly good; the park is open year-round and pretty under snow. Sunday afternoons are the busiest and most local, which is either the appeal or a reason to come on a weekday.

Good to know

It is a city park rather than wilderness, and it is busy at weekends with families, carriages and stalls. The entrance fee and the carriage ride add up for what is essentially a walk. The avenue is long, so the carriage is genuinely useful for anyone who would rather not do seven kilometres on foot in total.

Nearby

Ilidža's thermal spas are close; central Sarajevo is a short tram ride east.

Key facts