Srebrenica is a city of 3,000 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, best known as the site of a mass murder during the Bosnian War. The city was declared a safe haven for people in the area when ethnic cleansing was going on around it. The haven was attacked and the women, men and children were separated and more than 8,000 men were systematically slaughtered. The area was under UN (Dutch peacekeepers) control at the time.

Get in

The only way to reach Srebrenica is via bus or car.

As of July 2022 there is no direct bus to Srebrenica from Sarajevo anymore, although some websites list a daily bus (used to be at 07:10).

Instead you have to go from Sarajevo East(!) to Zvornik first (~4h, Centrotrans AD) and change there onto one of two daily busses running between Tuzla and Srebrenica (1:15h from Zvornik, Tuzla Tourist Transport). Check e.g. buskarta.ba for up-to-date connections.

The bus station has burned down and vandalized, so there's no ticket counter. Buy tickets from Srebrenica on the bus.

Get around

Taxis are the way to go. You can get a taxi from the town center to the memorial for about 7 marks. The memorial is out of town in Potočari. It's an 1.5h walk from the bus station along the same road as the bus to Srebrenica. So you could ask the bus driver to drop you off earlier if you know the language a bit.

There's not much traffic. If you got time and the heat allows for it, walking is an option.

See

1 Srebrenica-Potočari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery.   For the rest there is nothing much. You can see the place were the Dutch soldiers were stationed. The village itself is not very interesting, but you can actually stop with your family here on a small 2-to-4-day vacation and just enjoy nature and the rich history of this area. Srebrenica was quite an important city in the Roman era and between World War II and 1992.

And there is also the spa, which has around 40 springs of healing water, some of which are good for people who suffer from anemia, skin diseases and some other diseases.

People mostly come here to show respect to Muslim (Bosnian 7,000-8,000 killed or missing) victims.

In Bratunac, some 10 km from Srebrenica, there are many smaller Serb monuments for the victims of war.

Do

The nature around Srebrenica is all forested hills with little streams and rivers between them.

If you're into hiking, you could visit "Srebrenica - City of Hope" . It's a project associated to the Friends of Nature Bosnia and run by a guy named Irvin who fled the area as a child and now has returned to rebuild a village that has been destroyed during the war - all with ecology and sustainable tourism in mind. Besides offering accommodation in wooden huts he also organizes guided hiking trips in the area around Srebrenica and cooks for his guests with organic vegetables from his own garden. The project has been featured by German "Deutschlandfunk" as well as Swiss and Japanese media.

Eat

On the town square there is a place to eat. On the main road there are several restaurants. They are all cheap and everywhere you can get cevapke.

You will get quite good food in the local motel and hostel. Motel prices are too high and menu in the hostel is not so fancy, but prices are better in the hostel. In other places you will be always offered cevapke, which is common barbecue meat. For great local food you should go to the hostel, or if you have more money and you want a much bigger choice you should try the motel.

Drink

The same places were you can eat something are also places to drink. There are two places basically. Both in the center so just follow the main road.

Sleep

There is one motel in the city, some private houses and one quite good hostel (50m from the bus stop).

Prices are a bit higher than what you may expect for this part of the country. One bed in the motel is 58 KM and 25 KM in the hostel.

Go next

There are two daily buses to Tuzla. There is no direct bus to Sarajevo anymore (see "Get in"). For basically all connections take the bus to Tuzla (via Zvornik from where there are multiple connections daily to e.g. Sarajevo, Belgrade and even west European cities).