The 10 best places to visit in Bosnia & Herzegovina

Warm-hearted people. Natural abundance. Big historical heritage. Food that blows your mind. Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Check out our suggestion of the 10 best places to visit while there.

Mostar

A place that takes most by the surprise. Ancient walls, hypnotizing sceneries, views like from postcards will make you promise to come here again! Walking through Mostar is a walk through the past times, imagining how it used to live in this magnificent city.

The core landmark of this city is Old Bridge (Stari Most) beautiful, also part of the UNESCO World Heritage list. This bridge has connections with the origin of the name of this very old city. Bridge or ’’Most’’ in Bosnian, and guardians of the bridges in ancient times in Bosnian is ’’Mostari’’. Enjoy walking around this city that still keeps its identity as a multi-ethnic community.

Una National Park 

In the northern part of the country queen of the rivers is settled. In order to understand why the Una river is the queen among the rivers of Bosnia, you’ll have to visit it! The story of the Una river is certainly special, written with emerald color that runs through deep canyons and together with Unac and Krka rivers, makes a combination of preserved natural landscapes of exceptional beauty – Una National Park.

As Bosnia and Herzegovina are known for their magnificent rivers, the logical conclusion is that this is a country of the most stunning waterfalls in Europe. White water rapids together with waterfalls enhance the scenic beauty of the Una National Park. The largest and perhaps the most beautiful one – Štrbački buk waterfall (23,5 m high) is located on the Una river. Exactly from this waterfall, many rafting and kayak tours are performed from where we continue to sail over numerous waterfalls and mighty rapids.

The name ’’Una’’ in Latin stands for ’’one and only’’ and it perfectly describes this Bosnian river – specific and unpredictable in its flow.

Sarajevo 

When we think of Sarajevo, there are so many things that first pop up in our mind, like the Jerusalem of Europe, Baščaršija – a name of one very magical street (one pretty hard word to pronounce even for people from Balkans), overwhelming food, spectacular architecture, cold winters, east on the west of Balkans…and many more.

The capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a very special vibe and manner of living, it can hypnotize you without realizing it. You will just melt into the surroundings, into its streets, where East and West become one for centuries.

While you stroll downtown, through Baščaršija and Old Bazar you may feel like that you are in Istanbul or that you travel a couple of centuries back in time, but then just when you get used to that feeling you will step on the part where the border between Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empire was, you’ll see the difference among the shops and buildings around you. It is a spot in Sarajevo where two different civilizations touch and connect. When you stand on it, on one side you will have the Ottoman – Eastern Sarajevo and if you turn around, you will look at the Austro-Hungarian – Western Sarajevo. It’s like architectural fusion!

Kravice Waterfalls

Waterfall Kravice represents the incredible natural wonder of Bosnia & Herzegovina. As soon as you step foot near waterfalls you will be pleased to hear waters and rapids noise. Waterfalls are perfectly hidden from the eyes of the public and once when you lay your eyes on them, you will never forget their enchanting beauty. We guarantee this is one of the most beautiful places where you’ve been before and they are charming in every season.

Blagaj

An absolute must-see in Bosnia and Herzegovina is Blagaj and its incredible and strong spring of river Buna where mystical meets stunning. This city is usually described like it’s from a fairy tale. A small town Blagaj is nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage list, mainly because of its position at the source of the Buna river and because of the mystical Dervish monastery. This 600 years old monastery, referred to as Tekija, is situated on a 200 m high cliff. The monastery is one of its kind, constructed in the classical Baroque style with elements of Mediterranean and Ottoman architecture.

Sutjeska National Park

National Park Sutjeska in Bosnia hides numerous natural rarities, such as the last jungle in Europe called Perućica hidden in its wildness, astonishing mountain Zelengora with many glacial lakes, then the highest mountain peak of Bosnia – Maglić. Being still undiscovered by masses, Mt. Maglić is still undiscovered by masses and such is a perfect hideaway for passionate mountaineers and hikers.

If you are appealed to mountain hiking you should definitely try conquering Maglić and it will reward you with stupendous panoramas. For its panorama is deserved its location on the border with Montenegro, surrounded by  Sutjeska river on the north and west, mountains Volujak and Bioč on the south, and Puva and Drina rivers on the east. Wherever you turn around is marvelous nature!

Talking about wonders, one of them for sure is Perućica on Mountain Zelengora – the last preserved rainforest in Europe. Settled near the border with Montenegro Perućica is one of the two remaining primeval forests in Europe, but the oldest and the largest one in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Some parts of the forest are completely inaccessible, due to highly dense forest, a great number of endemic and rare species live in it. There are the trees here are more than 300 years old.

Jahorina Olympic Mountain

A great proof that Bosnia & Herzegovina is a land of great mountains is a fact that in 1984. Sarajevo was chosen to host the winter Olympic games, since its vicinity to the most popular mountains in B&H: Jahorina, Bjelašnica, Igman, and Trebević. All of them are only half an hour away from the capital city, and today they have the first-class slopes, the best accommodation & renting capacities, as well as après skiing activities. Since then, Sarajevo lives that Olympic glory, despite turbulences that hit the country in the 1990s.

Banja Luka

Irresistibly relaxed and cozy, yet modern and cosmopolitan city. Banja Luka, being the second-largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the capital of the Republic of Srpska it is a perfect destination in the Balkans. When in this city, you will inevitably notice a mixture of historical and cultural heritage.

Perfect place to feel the heartbeat of Banja Luka and its vibe, there is no better place than Gospodska street in the city center. Maybe for a moment, you will think you are in Vienna, because the facades of buildings in this street reflect the real Austrian influence, as they remind you of being in one of the European capitals.

Lukomir 

Did you ever wonder how life in remote mountainous villages in Europe used to look like 2 centuries ago? We think the perfect way to find that out is to visit Lukomir Village, the most isolated but still inhabited place in the Balkans.  

The village is settled at almost 1.500 m and such represents the highest permanent settlement in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Lukomir is only 54 km from Sarajevo and it is like a living ethnological museum, where most of the houses are more than 200 years old. Customs of nomadic tribes in this village are still practiced.

Jajce city and its waterfalls

Our first impression of Jajce city is that no other city in Bosnia and Herzegovina can gather so many cultural layers and so many architectural styles in a place so small. This calm and charming town, settled in the heart of the country Bosnia, is blessed with an abundance of water settings. The most famous is Pliva Waterfall.

Jajce is simply a lovely town and its name (Jajce – diminutive form of the word egg) comes from the shape of a hill settled above the old town, with an impressive medieval citadel on top of the hill. Citadel used to be the best fortified and the biggest one, it even kept resisting the Ottoman empire after the rest of the country was conquered.