In this paper the author describes the similarities in and differences among three Croatian travelogues written in the 19th century, from the time of the beginning of the Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire until 1879 when Austro-Hungary had already occupied Bosnia. Discussing issues regarding the genesis, form and substance in Pogled u Bosnu (Views on Bosnia) written by Matija Mažuranić (1842), in Putovanje po Bosni (Journeys through Bosnia) by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski (1858) and in Putopisne crtice iz Bosne (Travel sketches from Bosnia) by Gjuro Pilar (1879), the author has striven to present the specific findings presented by the various authors to the Croatian public and emphasized, by using examples from these texts, the diversity of Croatian perspectives on Bosnia and its population. The author draws the conclusion that Mažuranić’s travel book has the most similarity with the common understanding of fictional narrative, that Kukuljević illustrates significant changes in the Croatian perception of Bosnian Muslims and that, from the documentary point of view, Pilar’s travel book can be considered the most reliable.