Bosnia & Herzegovina

Overview

Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian : Bosna i Hercegovina , Босна и Херцеговина, usually shortened to BiH ) is a European country on the Balkan Peninsula . Mostly mountainous, it has access to a tiny portion of the Adriatic Sea coastline in the south. Visitors find well-restored historic cities, a warm and welcoming atmosphere, bustling city life and medieval monuments.

The first thing to grasp is that while Bosnia and Herzegovina is commonly seen as a politically divided nation, and as a unique kind of a federal country, comprising two political units (mainly…), these units are decidedly not "Bosnia" and "Herzegovina". Not only are the units (which are constitutionally labelled as "entities") not named "Bosnia" and "Herzegovina"—they don't even roughly correlate to these terms. Regardless, Bosnia and Herzegovina very much still is "Bosnia plus Herzegovina", as these names denote traditional, historical, regions that comprise the entire country's territory.

The native Muslim population is referred to as Bosniaks, as a distinct ethnic group. Bosnia's Catholics and Orthodox Christians historically looked up to Croatia and Serbia respectively for guidance and as the parent country and both had aspirations for political union with either Croatia or Serbia once the Yugoslavian union began to fall apart in the early 1990s. This spelled disaster for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, resulting in a bloody civil war fought between all three groups. In the end the Bosnian-Croatian alliance fought the Serbian forces on the ground whilst NATO attacked the Bosnian Serbs from the air, causing a military defeat for the Serbs.

Places to explore

Bosnia denotes the much larger northern region, comprising several geographic/historical subregions, and Herzegovina is the fairly compact southern part of the country. Here is a traveller-friendly division of the country based on traditional regions (and subregions):

Sights and landscapes

If Bosnia and Herzegovina makes you think of concrete Communist architecture or 1990s images of war-demolished town centres double-torn by ethno-religious strife, you're in for a pleasant surprise. Of course this country bears the marks of its tumultuous history, but visitors today find rebuilt and well restored historic cities , a warm and welcoming atmosphere, bustling city life and -overall- more medieval monuments than Socialist housing blocks. In fact, some of the remains of the Communist era, like the D-0 ARK bunker (otherwise known as Tito's Bunker) near Konjic , have become attractions of their own.

Great natural attractions can be found all around, even close to the main cities. Take a horse carriage to Vrelo Bosne (the spring of river Bosna) to join Sarajevo families for quiet getaways and picknicks. The waterfalls of Kravice , about 40km from Mostar, make for another fabulous natural trip. A popular spot for city dwellers and rafters, the water of the Trebižat River drops some 30 metres in a beautiful natural setting of tuff walls. Other dramatic waterfalls can be found in the far west of the country, in the lush Una National Park . And then of course, there is the famous Jajce waterfall , where the clear waters of the Pliva river drop 17 metres right in the middle of the town. Nature lovers may also want to include Hutovo Blato Natural Park for bird watching or Sutjeska National Park , with a waterfall as well as one of only two remaining primeval forests in Europe.

Experiences

The Neretva river and its tributary the Trebižat, the Unac river, also the Krivaja river and its tributary Bioštica river are great kayaking destinations with a lot of whitewater on the Krivaja river. The Pliva river and its lakes Veliko and Malo are great canoeing destinations, also the middle and lower Una river, the Trebižat river.

The famous Rakitnica canyon of the Rakitnica river, tributary of the Neretva river, offer great canyoning adventure, but even extreme canyoning route can be found in the Bjela river another tributary of the Neretva river. The Unac river and its canyon offer great canyoning route. Also close to Banja Luka you can explore the canyons of the Svrakava and Cvrcka rivers.

Culture and food

Local food is heavy on meat and fish, and light on vegetarian alternatives. Stews often contain meat but can be created without it. Rice and pasta dishes are readily available. Fast food, with the exceptions of cevapi and pita (or burek) consists of, like in other parts of Europe, pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. Panini sandwiches are served in most coffee shops popular with the youth, and Bosnian coffee, reminiscent of Turkish coffee, is a must-try for any coffee aficionado. Oddly, apart from these fast food options, Bosnian restaurants serve few Bosnian specialities; what people eat in their homes is very different from what they will eat if they go to a restaurant.

Planning your route

Bosnia is a beautiful country to drive in; the scenery is often spectacular. Renting a car is a reasonable option, especially if you are visiting remote destinations outside of Sarajevo.

However, due to the mountainous terrain, dubious driving behaviour by some road users (including dangerous overtaking on narrow highways), and generally poor road conditions throughout the country, do not expect speeds will be fast – especially given the relatively short distance 'as the crow flies'. Default speed limits are 50 km/h (31 mph) within cities, 80 km/h (50 mph) on rural roads, 100 km/h (62 mph) on expressways and 130 km/h (81 mph) on motorways.

Petrol stations can be hard to find in some spots – often the best place to fill up is on the edge of towns and cities rather than in them.

Travel guide text compiled and adapted from Wikivoyage article (contributors). Sections were selected and reordered for this guide. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Check current arrangements with your travel consultant.