Sheva's Free Walking Tour of Mostar: Explore the Past, Understand our Present

I've always enjoyed free walking tours in the past, but unfortunately, this one was a real letdown. From the start, it felt overly "westernized" and catered too much to mass tourism, lacking any authentic charm or local insight that I was hoping for. The first 35 minutes were especially frustrating – we barely walked anywhere and received almost no substantial information about Mostar itself. It felt like a lot of filler content with little depth or connection to the city's history or culture. The group size was also noticeably larger compared to other walking tours I've taken, which made it difficult to engage or ask questions. Overall, I left after the first half hour, feeling disappointed

Its really a shame that you did not experience the tour and left the group after only 30 minutes of a 2.5 hour long experience. How are you equipped to review an experience in which you did not participate? Regarding your comment about westernizatiion: BiH is a modern, European country. Your comment suggests that you did not intend to find it so! It is so disheartening that international travelers subscribe to this outmoded orientalist thought, believing that BiH is somehow not modern and that local businesses here can not uphold professional global standards while simultaneously mantaining our cultural, historical, and personal integrity. We can do both! We are delighted that our tours break harmful stereotypes and attitudes about our country, people, and culture while also enabling our guests to recognize our connectivity (and shared humanity). Doing so is critical to our philosophy since dangerous cultural othering contributed to the recent devastation of the 1990s and the loss of human life…something we continue to see world wide. We hope that if you are ever in Mostar again, you choose to stay till the end! Safe travels.

Not for people who are looking for a more deep and critical tour about the city. but very suitable for families and balkanroundtrip travelers. Nice tour but unfortunately not what we were looking for...

Too much info- too little to see. Was more like bias lecture than a tour!

There is a saying that you can not be all things to all people, and we are ok with that. While we do offer other tours which are lighter on content (great for families and those less interested in history), the Sheva Original is intentionally designed for an in depth understanding of the local history - it visits more locations than nearly all walking tours available in town. Not all the locations are equally beautiful, but they do help to narrate Mostar’s story. Our tours, however, are based in extensive research and review of resources; the narratives are known for being well-balanced (look at our reviews). Our guides, when comfortable, share their lived experiences during the recent war. While personal experiences are, by their nature, subjective and personal, we do not question or deny the atrocities that our guides have experienced first hand (regardless of their diverse individual backgrounds). These experiences include expulsion from their home as a result of ethnic cleansing, the loss of family members through military violence, and being drafted into military service before adulthood…just for starters. Their experiences are not only relevant, but humanize the history we present during tour. Our guides capacity to tell their story is an indication of their courage, strength, and resilience following experiences no human should have to live through. Thanks for sharing a review of your perspective of the tour experience, Michael. We appreciate it. All the best and safe and enjoyable travels.