Sarajevo

Ottoman lanes, Austro-Hungarian boulevards and ćevapi you will dream about.

Walkable centre; day trips to Mostar; coffee is a ritual, not a takeaway.

Sarajevo is a small city with an enormous story: an Ottoman bazaar, an Austro-Hungarian boulevard and a modern skyline within a ten-minute walk, all ringed by mountains that hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. It is warm, walkable and inexpensive, coffee is a ritual, and the 1990s siege is remembered with honesty rather than spectacle.

Baščaršija (the old bazaar) puts you among the copper workshops and ćevapi grills; Marijin Dvor near the Holiday Inn is quieter with tram links; the hillside quarters of Bistrik and Kovači offer views and small family pensions. The whole centre is walkable, so choose for atmosphere.

Day 1: Baščaršija and the Sebilj fountain, Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, coffee at Morića Han, the Latin Bridge, sunset from the Yellow Fortress. Day 2: The Tunnel of Hope museum by the airport, the War Childhood Museum, then the Trebević cable car and a walk down the abandoned Olympic bobsleigh track. Day 3 (optional): Day trip to Mostar's bridge and the Kravica waterfalls, 2.5 hours by bus.

Ćevapi — small grilled beef sausages in somun bread with raw onion and kajmak — is the dish; Željo and Mrkva are the classic grills. Burek (meat) and sirnica (cheese) pies from the buregdžinica are breakfast. Bosnian coffee arrives in a copper džezva with a sugar cube and rahat lokum; sip slowly. Finish with tufahija, a walnut-stuffed poached apple.

SJJ is 12 km from the centre; taxis are metered and cheap, and a shuttle bus runs to Baščaršija. In town the tram along the main boulevard and your feet cover everything; the cable car leaves from behind the old town. Buses to Mostar, Dubrovnik and Belgrade leave from the main station; the scenic train to Mostar runs twice daily.

Bosnia is one of Europe's least expensive countries: a full ćevapi dinner for two costs less than a coffee-and-cake in Vienna. The currency is the convertible mark (KM), pegged to the euro; many places quote both. Sundays are quiet. Respect signs about unexploded ordnance when hiking off marked paths in the surrounding hills.