We stayed at the Kandilj Pension for 4 nights in October. It's a simple, basic guesthouse tucked away on a quiet street near Sarajevo's old town.
The location can't be beat, really. It's a fairly charming place -- rooms are simply furnished with kilims on the floor and nice bedspreads. The employees are very friendly and kind. Breakfast was pretty good, with lots of bread, jams, cheeses, meats and omelettes, coffee, tea, etc, and was served in a cozy room with English TV blaring overhead. It's pretty clean (though not spic-n-span clean like other places we stayed), but acceptable. Bring your own toiletries. It was mostly quiet, except for 1 or 2 large dogs that barked through the night behind the building. A mosque is a few doors down, so you will hear a faint call to prayer in the morning. But, overall, it was a decent budget choice for Sarajevo.
The thing that spoiled it for us is guests and employees smoking cigarettes. Now, I realize that most folks in Bosnia smoke, but do they really have to do it in a hotel while they're working?
The cleaning lady smoked in the breakfast room, while talking to the omelette lady. She left after a few minutes, but the smoke stayed behind, filling the breakfast room -- not really what we wanted to smell first thing in the morning. Another employee smoked in the reception area behind a closed door. And, either guests or staff were smoking in the hallways, so that it wafted into our room. Gag.
Now, I realize this place isn't an official "non-smoking" hotel. But we've stayed in other places and have never had this problem, because the staff is considerate and doesn't light up in front of guests. But not here.
Too bad, because we really wanted to love this place. The rest of Sarajevo was amazing and we're already planning a return trip.
