Things to Do at War Tunnel Museum
Complete Guide to War Tunnel Museum in Sarajevo
About War Tunnel Museum
The Tunnel of Hope Museum sits behind an unassuming house in Sarajevo's Butmir neighbourhood. It guards what might be Bosnia and Herzegovina's most emotionally arresting site. The tunnel, formally designated D-B for Dobrinja-Butmir, was hand-dug beneath the airport runway beginning in March 1993. Workers completed it on 30 July that same year using little more than shovels and picks.
At roughly 800 metres long, about a metre wide, and averaging just 1.5 metres in height, it served as besieged Sarajevo's sole lifeline to Bosnian-held territory for much of the 1,425-day siege. Food, medicine, ammunition, and people moved through it around the clock, often in near-total darkness, the damp earth pressing in on all sides and the smell of wet clay hanging in the still air.
The museum occupies the Kolar family home. Patriarch Bajro Kolar helped dig the tunnel and told the builders that everything he owned was theirs too. His son Edis now curates the site. That family stewardship gives the place an intimacy you won't find at larger war memorials. You'll walk through rooms lined with wartime photographs, personal belongings, and newspaper clippings before ducking into a preserved stretch of the original passage.
The ceiling is low enough that most adults instinctively hunch. The cool underground air carries a faint mineral dampness that makes the claustrophobia feel earned rather than theatrical. A short documentary film rounds out the visit, layering archival footage over the quiet hum of the projector. This is one of the most important things to do in Sarajevo. It is likely the single stop that stays with visitors longest after they leave the city.
What to See & Do
The preserved tunnel section
You'll duck through a walkable stretch of the original passage, stooping under rough-hewn wooden reinforcements and iron bracing that scrape close overhead. The walls are cool and slightly damp to the touch. The lighting is deliberately dim to approximate wartime conditions. At just over a metre wide, the passage forces single-file movement. You can hear your own breathing echo off the packed earth in a way that makes the scale of the full 800-metre route almost inconceivable.
The Kolar family house exhibits
Before entering the tunnel, rooms inside the original house display wartime photographs, military equipment, communication devices, and personal effects from the siege years. Yellowed newspaper clippings line the walls alongside hand-drawn maps of supply routes. The objects are arranged without much polish. This makes them feel more like a family's memory than a curated exhibition. That rawness tends to hit harder than a slicker presentation would.
The documentary film screening
A short film plays in a screening room, combining archival footage of Sarajevo under siege with interviews and contextual narration. The grainy images of darkened streets and the crackle of gunfire on the soundtrack pull the surrounding artefacts into sharper focus. Watch this before you enter the tunnel itself. It gives the physical experience a narrative spine.
The outdoor memorial garden
Outside, the grounds include remnants of wartime infrastructure and a former minefield area that has been cleared and turned into a contemplative garden. Interpretive panels trace the tunnel's route toward the airport. On a clear day you can see the runway it passed beneath. The contrast between the quiet suburban surroundings, birdsong drifting from nearby gardens, and the violence those same fields witnessed is quietly disorienting.
Chronological timeline exhibition
A more recent addition to the museum lays out a chronological timeline of wartime events and shows what daily life looked like in besieged Sarajevo, from improvised stoves and water-collection methods to the routines people built around sniper fire. It doesn't shy away from the tunnel's complications. The black market activity that flourished alongside the humanitarian supply chain is included too.
Practical Information
Opening Hours
Summer hours tend to run from around 8:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening. Winter hours are typically shortened to 9 until 4. These can shift. Confirm before you make the trip out to Butmir.
Tickets & Pricing
Admission is inexpensive by European standards, payable in cash in Bosnian convertible marks at the door. The museum has historically operated on a cash-only basis. Bring local currency. There is no advance booking system for individual visitors. Queues rarely get long enough to be a problem outside of peak summer months. Many visitors arrive on guided war tours that bundle entry with transport and commentary. This is a practical option if you would rather not arrange a taxi independently. Audio guides are available in several languages including English and Turkish.
Best Time to Visit
Early morning visits tend to be quieter. The light filtering into the tunnel entrance feels less harsh. Midday in summer brings tour groups that can crowd the narrow passage. Arrive before ten for a more reflective experience. Winter visits are well fine, though the shorter hours and early dusk mean you should plan around daylight. There is something to be said for visiting on a grey, overcast day when the mood of the place matches the weather.
Suggested Duration
Budget roughly 45 to 60 minutes for the full experience, including the film, the house exhibits, and the tunnel walk. If you read every caption and sit with the documentary, allow a bit longer. The tunnel section itself takes only a few minutes to walk through. The emotional weight of the surrounding displays tends to slow people down.
Getting There
The museum sits in the Butmir neighbourhood on Sarajevo's southwestern fringe, close to the airport but not convenient to the city's tram network. A taxi from the old town or central Sarajevo takes roughly fifteen minutes and is by far the simplest option. You might also find it included as a stop on guided Sarajevo war tours, which handle the logistics for you and tend to cost modestly more than the combined taxi fare and entry.
Some visitors pair the trip with a ride out to Trebevic mountain afterward, since the route overlaps. Public transport connections to Butmir exist but are infrequent and involve a walk at the end, so unless you are comfortable navigating local bus schedules, a taxi or organised tour is the more practical choice. If you are driving, parking near the museum is straightforward.
Things to Do Nearby
The stretch of Zmaja od Bosne street that earned its grim wartime nickname runs through central Sarajevo and is often combined with a tunnel visit on guided war tours. Walking it today, flanked by rebuilt apartment blocks still pocked with shrapnel scars, gives physical context to the siege that the tunnel sustained.
This memorial gallery in Sarajevo's historic centre commemorates the Srebrenica genocide through Tarik Samarah's photographs and video documentation. It pairs well thematically with the tunnel museum, moving the story from siege survival to the war's darkest chapter. Allow at least an hour.
Site of two of the deadliest massacres during the siege, Markale is now a functioning fresh market again. The smell of ripe tomatoes and fresh cheese mingles with the memory of what happened here, and a small memorial plaque marks the spot. It is a jarring, necessary contrast.
The 1984 Winter Olympics bobsled and luge track on Trebevic sits overgrown and graffiti-covered above Sarajevo, a ruin from an era of international celebration that the siege obliterated. The cable car from the city centre runs up the mountain, and the views back over Sarajevo's basin are worth the ride even without the historical weight.
A separate museum focused on objects donated by people who grew up during the siege, from ballet shoes received as wartime gifts to half-burned books salvaged from the shelled National Library. It complements the tunnel's military focus with a personal civilian perspective.
Tips & Advice
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