Vlašić

Affordability leads the praise: lift passes cost far less than in the Alps, and the road up from Travnik is good and well maintained. Snow cover is usually dependable and the mountain rarely takes a serious storm, so the skiing feels calm and predictable. Vlasic was the first resort in Bosnia to offer evening skiing, and a wide floodlit run operates several nights a week. Beginners are well served.

The recurring complaint is that money goes into accommodation rather than lifts. The uphill system is old and cannot handle the flow: at weekends it is overloaded, the waiting starts to grate, and there is not enough capacity for a full day. The runs themselves are called short - a confident skier covers the whole hill in a couple of hours and finds little that is genuinely demanding. Upkeep draws fire too, with saplings left uncleared along the lift lines and rocks on the pistes.