Visiting Sarajevo in mid-winter may mean that your toes go numb and your cheeks flush with the cold, but the snow-covered mountains form a magical backdrop for exploring this fascinating city: for a stroll across the triple-arched stone bridge opposite where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot, triggering the chain of events that led to WWI; for nosing around stalls or sipping Bosnian coffee from copper pots in quaint cobblestoned alleys; for marvelling at the mix of religious architecture, with magnificent Ottoman mosques, synagogues and orthodox and catholic churches all competing to dazzle believers and unbelievers alike; or for lifting the spirits when emerging from harrowing exhibitions that document the atrocities committed against Bosnian Muslims during the Balkans wars of the 1990s.

And should the temptation to play in the cold, white stuff prove too much, there is a cable car to whisk you to the mountain tops where you can enjoy stunning views of the city and visit the bobsleigh track used in the 1984 winter Olympics, now covered in graffiti and encrusted with icicles.