Traveling from Sarajevo to Serbia is not simple and not obvious. There is an incovenient obstacle in the way: the Republika Srpska, an autonomous region within Bosnia and Hercegovina controlled by Bosnian Serbs. Not to say anything against the Republika Srpska–I am sadly ignorant about it–but it is IN THE WAY.

There is a separate bus station in Serb-controlled Sarajevo, a 15 KM (about $10) taxi ride away, and all the international buses leave from there, including of course those going to Belgrade. The bus to Belgrade takes 9 hours.

It is also possible to get to Serbia by train. However, the route goes from Sarajevo to Banja Luka (in Republika Srpska; 4 hrs) and then from Banja Luka to Belgrade (about 12 hrs). That’s what the Lonely Planet says, anyway, and I have verified the existence of the train from Sarajevo that stops in Banja Luka (at least I think so). However, Banja Luka is far to the west of Sarajevo, while Belgrade is north and east. And there is only one train a day on each route. Finally, the official Serbian Railways site (just one of the many delightfully informative sites linked from this post) does not give information on trains from Banja Luka to Belgrade, which I find somewhat worrisome.

So, I think I am going to cut the Gordian travel tangle created by the Republika Srpska’s inconvenient presence, and fly. JAT Airlines has one daily flight at 6:30 am from Sarajevo Airport (which by the way has an absolutely amazing website, listing all flights and giving real-time information on flight status), and according to kayak.com the ticket is $159. Unfortunately jat.com does not support online booking, but there are plenty of travel agents in this neighborhood.

Finally, it appears that the Belgrade airport (which has an even more amazing website, complete with information on travel from the airport, hotels in Belgrade, and everything else you might want) is only 60 km from the place I want to go next: Sremska Mitrovica, the ancient city of Sirmium. Sremska Mitrovica has an impressive municipal website, linked to above. It even has an attractive and informative Flash animation on the town’s history–and I hate Flash.

On the municipal website, I found a link to the Bela Ruza (White Rose) Restaurant, which has rooms for rent. I’ve e-mailed them and I’ll see what happens. They give three phone numbers: +381 22 640 400, +381 22 640 644, and +381 63 54 11 76. The website gives both Serbian and a rather picturesque English translation, and the rooms look nice.