Abandoned Olympic Bobsleigh Track
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Built for the 1984 Winter Olympics held in Sarajevo, the track was somewhat damaged in the Bosnian war and Siege of Sarajevo and has lain abandoned ever since … except that it became a popular destination for hikers once the area was cleared of landmines and the cable car going up Trebević mountain was rebuilt, allowing for easy access. It’s by no means the darkest of Sarajevo’s dark-tourism portfolio, but it’s an intriguing addition, especially for those who enjoy a bit of urbexing and hiking combined.
More background info: The bobsleigh track – or to be more precise: the Olympic bobsleigh and luge track (as it was constructed for both types of competition) was built for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo after the city was awarded the games in 1977. The design was approved in 1981 and construction was completed in late 1982. The first notable competition held on it was in 1983 with the European Bobsleigh Championships.
The track was designed in such a way that it could be subdivided into three separate sections. The first section could branch off the main course and have a finish after just 350m. Given the low gradient, this shorter track was suitable for beginners and basic training. The second section of 375m was more demanding, and the third section, of 575m, was the hardest and fastest with several sharp bends. At the intersections the track could apparently be moved to switch from the shorter to the longer route. For the Olympics only the full length of 1.3 km was used. It has 13 turns and the elevation difference between that of the first start house and the finish at the end of the track is just under 130m.
In the 1984 Olympics the track was used for two bobsleigh and three luge competitions. The GDR dominated the competitions, winning three of the gold medals, another three silver medals, and two bronze. Some 50,000 spectators came to watch the competitions. After the Olympics, the track was used again for World Cup competitions.
All activity ended with the 1992 onset of the Bosnian war and the Siege of Sarajevo, when the area was occupied by Bosnian Serb troops who used the mountain as a vantage point from which to shell Sarajevo. During the war, the bobsleigh/luge track suffered minor damage, but remained largely in place as such. But the start houses and the refrigeration plant and control house were lost. The area was also left heavily mined after the war.
When I first saw the bobsleigh track back in 2009 as part of a war-themed guided tour, only the section where a road passes under the elevated track was accessible. There was some graffiti, but much less than today, and most of the track beyond that one accessible part was partially overgrown.
In 2014, a comprehensive demining operation got rid of the landmines and made the area safe for access again. Some renovation work was allegedly undertaken, with removal of graffiti and covering the inside of the track with a new coating. But the damaged insulation, defunct track switching systems, destroyed start houses and ruined refrigeration plant meant it could not be used for bobsleigh or luge competitions – though long-term that seems to be the goal.
In the meantime, the rebuilding of the Trebević cable car (the original from 1959 was completely destroyed in the Bosnian war), which reopened in 2018, made the old bobsleigh track much more easily accessible for all, and soon it became a popular activity for locals and visitors alike to hike down (or up) the old track. Apparently it’s also been used by cyclists and for amateur sledging – though I wonder how that combines safely with the hikers on the track.
When I revisited Sarajevo in April 2025, I saw the bobsleigh track again twice, first on a short stop at the same spot as in 2009, namely where a road passes under the elevated track on stilts, but only had time to walk a short stretch of it. So I had wanted to go back independently, making use of the cable car and walk it all. However, for several days low clouds and rain made the activity impossible. Fortunately, on my last full day in Sarajevo, the clouds had cleared and I was able to go up the mountain and then walk the entire bobsleigh track from start to finish – see below:
What there is to see: First of all you have to make your way to the bottom station of the Trebević cable car. This is located not quite at the bottom of the valley but a short distance up the lower slopes of the foot of the mountain in a quiet neighbourhood of Sarajevo south of the Miljacka River, a bit further on from the Ratni Muzej. There are some steps to negotiate, but it’s not too strenuous and anyway, the really difficult bits are to come much later …
Once you’re at the top cable car station, maps and signs help in finding the beginning of the bobsleigh track. Near the start of the track take note of the war scars (bullet holes) on the ruin that must once have been the start house. Once on the track it’s quite easy going and the first curve only comes after the bobsleigh and luge merger point. It’s mostly not difficult walking, but do take care with puddles of rainwater or accumulated dead foliage, which might be slippery.
After a few hundred metres you come to the first of the two track switching points. On encountering these I was at first quite confused as to what they were, as I only read up on them afterwards, but I still don’t quite understand how the system could work.
A bit further on you come to the ruin of another ancillary building and then the bit where an elevated part of the track on stilts goes over an access road. That’s the spot that tour guides take people to for just a short impression of the track (like I had on my first trip in 2009 and the Siege tour in 2025). This time I was keen to continue all the way to the end of the track.
There’s a great deal of graffiti, and while quite a lot of it comes in the form of those boring and unimaginative “tags”, there are also quite a few very elaborate and interesting ones. Several allude to the war, and even more to the Olympics. The 1984 Olympic mascot “Vućko” (‘wolfie’ – see under Sarajevo) is kind of a leitmotif in several graffiti/murals.
I also spotted some war damage, mostly on the outside of the track, especially on the old insulation layer, but I also saw proper grenade holes in the track’s concrete.
Eventually I made it all the way to the official finishing line from the 1984 Olympics where there is a little bridge over the track with an inscription in Bosnian on it. Possibly also a relic from the war was a little pillbox bunker right by the side of the track beyond the finishing line.
After getting off from the track proper you can also take a look at the ruin of what once was the refrigeration plant, of which next to nothing remains. But I spotted some very intriguing and artful graffiti here as well.
As usual with such places, images say more than a thousand descriptive words, so do take a look at the comparatively comprehensive photo gallery below!
When you’ve come to the end of the bobsleigh track you have to make a decision: either retrace your steps and walk all the way back up (1.3 km in length and 130m higher up) or walk down all the way back into the city centre.
I opted for the latter. That way I also passed some more intriguing war ruins high up on the hillside. But after that it became a bit tricky and even a little dicey. At one point the gradient was so steep that it was very hard to negotiate on two feet. Even cars coming up had trouble going up in first gear, engines howling loudly in distress. Good care had to be taken.
After a series of more rather steep bits the gradient slowly levelled out a bit and it became easier to walk. Apart from an encounter with a pack of feral dogs, the descent was rather uneventful if lengthy and en route you can get some cool views over Sarajevo.
Eventually, back in the city centre of Sarajevo I wondered whether it would actually have been easier to walk the bobsleigh track all the way back to the top, uphill, yes, but that’s possibly easier than the steep descent on dodgy roads.
Location: on one of Sarajevo’s “Olympic mountains”, namely Trebević, just south of the Old Town, accessible by cable car.
Google Maps locators:
Cable car bottom station: [43.8556, 18.4351]
Cable car top station: [43.8401, 18.4499]
Start of the bobsleigh track: [43.8404, 18.4479]
Section where the elevated track goes over a road: [43.8396, 18.4431]
Finish: [43.8425, 18.4401]
Ruin of the refrigeration plant: [43.8429, 18.4394]
War ruins below the bobsleigh track finish: [43.8448, 18.4396]
Access and costs: easy to get to from near Sarajevo's city centre, namely by cable car, but harder to get back; freely accessible as such, but the cable car isn’t cheap.
Details: If you’re visiting the bobsleigh track as part of a guided tour (e.g. the Sarajevo Siege Tour by Funky Tours) then you’ll only get to see a short stretch of the middle section of the track, where the road passes under the elevated track. If you want to walk the track in its entire length, you have to make your own way to it independently.
For that you first have to get the cable car that goes up the Trebević mountain. The bottom station is some way up a slope in the quiet neighbourhood south of Sarajevo’s Old Town across the Miljecka River a short distance from the Ratni Muzej. It’s well signposted.
In season, the cable car operates daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., except Mondays when it only starts from 12 noon. Off season hours may well be shorter.
It costs 20 KM for a single ride (i.e. up only). A return ticket costs 30 KM, so you’d save a tenner if going back by cable car – but you have to make the decision beforehand. In hindsight, I think walking back up to the cable car after arriving at the bobsleigh track finish may indeed have been the better choice rather than descending the steep hill all the way on foot. But then again I don’t know how hard the ascent back up the track would have been. I saw other people do it, though.
In general you don’t have to be an athlete to do this, but you need to have a reasonable level of fitness and mobility.
Time required: Walking the entire length of the bobsleigh track took me about an hour – including frequent stops at particularly interesting graffiti and a couple of short side trips up the intermediate section finish tracks. The whole excursion from getting to the cable car and arriving at the bottom of the valley, after the steep descent from the mountain, back in central Sarajevo took some three to four hours.
Combinations with other dark destinations: Since the Ratni Musej is so close to the bottom station of the cable car, that makes it the most obvious combination. The City Hall isn’t too far from there either.
For everything else see under Sarajevo in general.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: in general see under Sarajevo.
From the cable car you get good views over Sarajevo and the surrounding lands, also from some viewpoints up on Trebević. The woods up there and around the bobsleigh track are good for general hiking. There is a hiking map at the upper cable car station.
