Bosnia & Hercegovina

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Western Balkans

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Matt Munro

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Overview

Craggily beautiful Bosnia and Hercegovina is most intriguing for its East-meets-West atmosphere born of blended Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian histories filtered through a Southern Slavic lens. Many still associate the country with the heartbreaking civil war of the 1990s, and the scars from that time are all too visible. But today's visitors are likely to remember the country for its deep, unassuming human warmth, its beautiful mountains, numerous medieval castle ruins, raftable rivers, impressive waterfalls and bargain-value skiing.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Sarajevo City Hall

Sarajevo

A storybook neo-Moorish striped facade makes the triangular Vijećnica (1896) Sarajevo's most beautiful Austro-Hungarian–era building. Seriously damaged…

Stari Most

Mostar

The world-famous Stari Most (meaning simply 'Old Bridge') is Mostar's indisputable visual focus. Its pale stone magnificently reflects the golden glow of…

Kravica Waterfall

Bosnia & Hercegovina

There's a slightly unreal Disney-esque quality to this outstanding natural attraction, where the Trebižat River plummets in a broad 25m-high arc into an…

War Childhood Museum

Sarajevo

This affecting museum had its genesis in a 2013 book edited by Jasminko Halilović, in which he asked a simple question of survivors of the Sarajevo siege:…

Galerija 11/07/95

Sarajevo

This gallery uses stirring photography, video footage and audio testimonies of survivors and family members to create a powerful memorial to the 8372…

Sarajevo Cable Car

Sarajevo

Reopened in 2018 after being destroyed during the war, Sarajevo's cable car once again shuttles people on a nine-minute ride, climbing 500m to a viewpoint…

Tunnel of Hope

Sarajevo

During the 1992–95 siege, when Sarajevo was surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces, the only link to the outside world was an 800m-long, 1m-wide, 1.6m-high…

Kajtaz House

Mostar

Hidden behind tall walls, Mostar's most interesting old house was once the harem (women's) section of a larger homestead built for a 16th-century Turkish…

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