Bosnia and Herzegovina is a beautiful country in the Balkans. It’s not as popular amongst tourists as its neighbor Croatia for example, which gives it part of its charm. Here you’ll find beautiful nature, interesting culture and history, and super friendly locals. The most famous attraction in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the old town of Mostar with its famous bridge, but there are many more things to do. Below I will list the best places to visit in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from North to South, and color-coded as a must-visit, highly recommended, and if time permits.
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission when you click on them, at no additional cost to you. It just helps to keep this site running. I only promote products and services I really recommend and always give my honest opinion about them.
Table of Contents : Things to do in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Traveling Bosnia and Herzegovina - Tips & Tricks
When to go: My favorite travel months in Europe are April – June and September. The weather is generally nice during these months and things are open, but it’s not as busy as in July and August.
How to get there: If you’re arriving by flight, you’ll most likely fly into Sarajevo. If you are visiting Croatia too on your trip, it’s probably easier and cheaper to fly in and out of Croatia though, and travel to Bosnia by bus. Bihac, Sarajevo, and Mostar are all well-connected to different cities in Croatia. If you are coming from Montenegro, there is a bus from Podgorica to Sarajevo. GetbyBus is a good website to check bus schedules. Note that it is customary to pay a small fee to put luggage in hold.
Currency – Bosnia and Herzegovina uses the Mark. At the time of writing 1 BAM equals about 0,50 EUR. (Check the current exchange rate here.) Many places accept Euros as well, especially accommodation.
ATMs – I had no luck trying to find a free ATM, all of them charged 10 BAM. It’s a flat fee, so try to take out what you think you’ll need during your stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Keep in mind that many places only accept cash.
Transport – As Bosnia and Herzegovina is relatively small, it’s easy to get around. Most cities are connected by bus, but you can travel between some cities by train too. The train ride between Sarajevo and Mostar is especially beautiful, and often mentioned as one of the best things to do in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Food: Traditional Bosnian food is similar to the food of other countries. Here you’ll find Cevapci, Burek, and hearty stews and soups. Note that in contrast to other Balkan countries, Burek in Bosnia always contains meat. If you’re looking for a pita stuffed with potato, for example, ask for a potato pie instead.
Bihac and Una National Park
Bihac is a nice small city close to the Croatian border. This makes it the perfect start for your trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina if you’re coming from Croatia. It’s the perfect base to explore both Plitvice and Una National Park.
It’s also famous for river rafting. The best season for it is spring, this is when the rivers are full of water.
Una National Park
Una National Park doesn’t get a lot of tourism (yet), which is what made it my favorite waterfall park in the area! Unlike at Plitvice or Krka, here you can walk in nature, exploring the waterfalls, there is no steep entrance fee and no ant trail over a boardwalk. Just you, a handful of other tourists, and nature. ❤️
If you have your own transport, you can visit this park in a day, visiting several spots. You can also decide to stay at one of the campsites. If not, you can still visit part of the park by public transport. There is a bus leaving from the Bedem stop in Bihac 5 times a day (check the current schedule in Bihac). Get off at Ćukovi or Orašac to visit Štrbački buk, the main waterfalls. Ćukovi is the closest and the trail more beautiful. From Orašac the walk is longer and mainly over paved road.
Usually, there is a small entrance fee (8 BAM at the time of writing), but when we entered (with the first bus on a slightly rainy day in September) there was nobody there to charge us.
After spending some time admiring Štrbački buk and taking plenty of pictures, you can hike 3 km to another small waterfall. This waterfall itself is a bit of s letdown, but the walk is nice and it leads to a nice spot to chill for a while before hiking back. From Štrbački but you can walk the same way back you came from or continue to the next town and take the bus back from there.
We only got to visit this part of Una, as the forecast for the next few days was just full-on rain. Had the forecast been better, we would have happily stayed at the campsite for a night or 2 to explore some more.
Jajce
What makes Jajce so special, is its location. To old town is situated right above the Pliva waterfall. The best views of this are from the pavilion, across the Vrbas river.
Other than this, go for a stroll around the old town and you can drive/hike to the watermills (Mlinčići). Once you get out of town it’s a nice walk along the river which takes about 1 hour. Have a picnic at the park, cross the boardwalk over the small waterfalls, and spend some time photographing the picturesque watermills.
As Jajce is only small, a day is enough. You can either book a night here or get here early from Bihac and leave at the end of the day for Sarajevo.
How to get to Jajce from Bihac – Jajce is about halfway between Bihac and Sarajevo, making it a perfect place for a stopover and break up the trip. The bus from Bihac takes about 3 hours and the bus terminal is walking distance from the old town.
Sarajevo
Sarajevo is one of the most interesting cities I’ve ever visited. Here 3 religions live together, and all 3 are very present in the city. From the people to the architecture. To really get a feel and understanding of this city, join at least one free walking tour. I did both free tours with Neno and friends and they were two of the best free walking tours I’ve done in all my travel years! They really explain the complicated history and current dynamics of the city so well.
If you’ve gotten tired of the city, you can head up to the mountains. Trebevic and Igman are popular skiing resorts in winter and offer nice views during the rest of the year as well. No transport? No problem! There is a cable car that will bring you from Sarajevo City to Trebevic (not the top). If you’re feeling sporty you can hike up as well, passing the abandoned bobsled track for some street photography. The hike from the start of the cable car to the end of it is about 4.5 km. Or you can take the cable car up and hike further up. The bobsled track is the most famous of the abandoned Olympic structures, there are more around the city, like the ski jump on Igman.
How to get to Sarajevo from Jajce: The same busses that go from Bihac to Jajce, continue on to Sarajevo. The bus takes about 3.5 – 4 hours.
Mostar
Mostar is home to the famous bridge that was destroyed during the war. The old center of Mostar is only small and can be visited in half a day, but I recommend staying here for at least one night. Mostar gets absolutely packed with day trippers during the day making it impossible to enjoy the town. You can barely even walk through the main street as it’s so busy and it’s full of souvenir shops and restaurants, so people go slowly while looking at things to buy or eat. The old town of Mostar is best enjoyed in the morning and late afternoon/evening. When the old town gets too busy, you can head to Španjolski trg and the area around for a very different side of Mostar.
If you want to spend a few nights here, there are many more things to do in Mostar besides the old town.
Fortica
Hike (or drive) up to Fortica Park for some nice views. There is café at the top where you can ejoy a coffee as well. The hiking trails are not so much real trails, you kind of have to find your own way up, using the trail on your map as a guideline. But you can follow the road as well. It’s a bit longer, but easier, especially when coming down.
Blagaj
The town of Blagaj is a nice place to spend a day or an afternoon too. It’s mostly famous for the Dervish House and the river Buna Spring which flows out of a cliff. On top of the hill, above the spring, you’ll find a fortress too, so you can also hike up here if you want to pack some more action into your day. We just felt like relaxing, so we picked a restaurant on the riverbank with views over the spring and strolled along the town/river for a little bit. You can get to Blagaj by public transport from Mostar, making it an easy daytrip.
Kravica waterfalls
The Kravica waterfalls are some beautiful waterfalls located quite close to Mostar and make for another nice daytrip. Just note that there is no public transport to reach the waterfall, so you need to either have your own or join a tour.
How to get to Mostar from Sarajevo: The best way to travel between Sarajevo and Mostar is by train. It’s cheap and a very scenic ride along rivers and canyons. When traveling from Sarajevo to Mostar, the best views are on the left-hand side, but views from the right are good too! But the bus and train station are within walking distance of the old town.
Protip: Many agencies in Dubrovnik, Croatia offer day trips to Mostar and the Kravica waterfalls. Even though it might sound tempting, I don’t recommend these tours as Mostar gets too busy to enjoy during the ‘tour hours’. Better to just spend a night or 2 in Mostar, which is way cheaper than Dubrovnik anyway. If you want to visit the Kravica waterfalls as well, you can do a tour from Mostar, which will include some other interesting places in the Herzegovina part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Double score!
Other places to visit in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina is full of picturesque towns worth a visit. Trebinje is one of them, located in the Republika Srpska. We would have liked to visit, but we had to make choices, and getting here and to our next destination by public transport was a little more complicated. So we decided to leave it out this time. Počitelj is a walled city with a fortress, which looks really cool too. And then there is Konjic of course, which connects Bosnia with Herzegovina.
This was Things to do in Bosnia and Herzegovina – The Ultimate Travel Guide
For more ideas for things to do in the Balkans, check out my guides to Croatia, Montenegro and Albania too!
