Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located at 43°52' N 18°25' E. According to a 1991 census, its population was 429,672; currently estimated at around 400,000.

The city is considered one of the most important cities in the Balkans and has had a long and rich history ever since it was founded by the Ottomans in 1461. It was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which sparked World War I; more recently Sarajevo has hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics and was besieged during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. Sarajevo is part of Canton Sarajevo, one of the ten Cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The river Miljacka runs through the city.

The city is surrounded by five major mountains. In 1984 Bosnia and Herzegovina was the host of the Winter Olympic Games. The unique beauty of this jewel of the Central Europe, the natural wealth that is contained in its fresh and healthy air, mineral and thermal water and the resourceful potential for the enjoying different sports, made Sarajevo and the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina famous all around the world. They are part of the Dinaric Alps mountain range that winds through Croatia, Bosnia and Herze-govina, and Serbia and Montenegro. The mountains are popular tourist attractions for hiking and skiing. In alphabetical order they are:

Sarajevo has a continental climate, lying between the climate zones of central Europe to the North and the Mediterranean to the South. Sarajevo experiences warm summers, with temperatures of 35 °C (95 °F) not being uncommon, and cold winters, when snow is guaranteed due to the city's altitude. Sarajevo has three major weather stations. They are located on Bjelašnica moun-tain, Butmir, and in the city itself.

Tourism is one of Sarajevo's major industries, and is constantly growing now with stability in the region. Sarajevo's mountain ranges and Olympic facilities make it an ideal location for winter sports. Another reason for Sarajevo's popularity among tourists is its 600 years of accumulated history, which have been impacted by both Western and Eastern empires.

Ever since the 1984 Olympics, Sarajevo has been a popular tourist attraction (save for the war years in the early 1990s). Indeed, even long before that Sarajevo was a popular stop for travelers in the Ottoman and Austria-Hungarian empires, and is mentioned in trave-ling books from all sides of Europe and the Middle East.