SARAJEVO HALF MARATHON
A MAP IN WORDS, so you know what's coming.
Two laps of flat, certified road through the modern city. It is built for a personal best, not for postcards — and it is honest about that. Here is exactly what you run past, in order, and which bits are worth looking up for.
WHAT YOU RUN PAST.
It is two laps, so you'll see most of this twice.
Marijin Dvor
The modern heart of the city, glass towers next to the old Parliament, on the wide Zmaja od Bosne boulevard.
Along Meša Selimović Boulevard
The long, flat, fast straight — the former Sniper Alley — where you'll settle into rhythm.
The Miljacka and Vilsonovo šetalište
The race turns to the river and the tree-lined riverside promenade — the prettiest, calmest stretch, and where locals walk on any Sunday.
Grbavica and Vrbanja, back to Marijin Dvor
Ordinary, lived-in neighbourhoods, then the finish where you started.
WATER AND FUELLING.
Refreshment stations on the half sit at 4.1, 7.0, 9.0, 10.7, 14.8, 17.6 and 19.6km. That is seven stops across 21km — closely enough spaced that carrying your own bottle is a choice rather than a necessity, even in warm weather. If you use gels, bring your own; don't assume on-course nutrition beyond water and the sponsor's sports drink.
One honest note on the route: the course runs the modern riverside city, not the Ottoman old town. Baščaršija, the copper-smiths' bazaar everyone photographs, is for your evenings, not your splits — it's a 20-minute walk from the start. If you came expecting to run through the postcard, this isn't that race. What you get instead is a genuinely fast, honest course.