We spent 3 nights in the central-Bosnian city of Travnik, and decided rather spontaneously to spend one of our days skiing at the nearby resort of Vlasic.
The resort is about a 30 min drive from town, and best to do in your own car as there aren't really any handy bus / shuttles. We were told a taxi there would cost about 50 BAM/25 euro and about the same for a return trip. We had unfortunately already returned our own rental car to Sarajevo, and there weren't any formal rental car companies in town. But we were able to rent a car from our AirBnb host for the day for 50BAM/25 euro total (Pro tip: if you rent a car like this, check to see that all the seats have seatbelts before you agree!)
So we drove up the hill, which is a narrow windy road with rocks falling off the hills on to the road and a few bumps. It hasn't snowed in about a week, so the road was clear of snow until the very end. We saw a beautiful fox cross the road on our drive - a family highlight!
The weather was lovely. Sunny with no wind and temps during the day ranging from 2-10 degrees C. (34-40F).
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| Parking lot |
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| Base of main run and end of ski race area |
We paid 10BAM/5 euro to park our car for the day in the formal parking lot, and were interested to see the number of cars from all over Europe. The resort has a really lovely village / base area. Lots of great little ski-in/ski-out A-frames that would be a terrific place to stay. Restaurants, cafes, rental shops, an Intersport (like SportChek or Dick's but small), and people out sledding throughout the village (including the bottom of the ski runs!).
Our rentals were 120 BAM / 60 euro for our family of 4 to rent skis, boots, poles, helmet, goggles and our lift tickets were 104 BAM/52 euro for our family of 4 for the full day. The quality of our skis wasn't great, but totally fine for a family day. And our goggles weren't scratched and provided great visibility.
The resort is pretty small. There are 2 T-bars, 1 platter lift, and 1 very slow, old 2-person chairlift. The resort and map make it look like there are 2 additional lower T-bars, but they aren't in use anymore. There are about 7 wide open blue/green groomers to ski.
There was a ski race event going on, so the village was alive with music and parents cheering and half of the main lift closed off for the event. This was pretty fun because you could ride up the T-bar and watch the racers, and also ski down the run in between the T-bar and the race barrier.
It was so lovely to ski under a blue sky and have it be warm. It was a bit icy in the morning, and got quite soft in the afternoon. We skied every run on the mountain and enjoyed several solid hours of going strong. We had a lovely lunch of 'cevapi' sausages and bread (25BAM/12.50 euro total for our family of 4). We had a few more runs after lunch before the afternoon sun softness, melting and lack of terrain encouraged us to pack it in. We were home in our apartment in Travnik by about 3:15pm.
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| Riding the Tbar together |
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| Our kids riding the T bar ahead of us |
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| This is the bottom of the ski run in the melting snow as people walk around and sleds appear |
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| Busy with the ski race vibe |
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| Monopoly warming hut |
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| Snacking in the snow |
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| In the chairlift line |
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| On the very slow 2-person chair |
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| Eating cevapi for lunch at one of the many restaurants |
We had a super fun day, and we were all glad we added this spontaneous ski decision. The terrain and snow was nothing to rave about, but it was fine. For a family day and a fun time experiencing a new place, it was totally worth it. Cheap lift tickets made it fun to just go and try it and enjoy!
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