The Best Day Trips from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Most people give Mostar four hours, photograph the bridge, and leave. That is a mistake for a lot of reasons, and here is the biggest one: Mostar is the best day trip base in the Balkans, and almost nobody uses it that way.

Within 45 minutes of the old town there is a dervish house built into the base of a cliff where a river comes out of a cave, a set of waterfalls you can swim under, a stepped Ottoman village on a hillside, and some of the cheapest good wine in Europe. Within two hours there are two countries. Here is everything worth doing, ranked by how strongly we would push you toward it.

Why Base Yourself in Mostar

It is central. Mostar sits in the middle of Herzegovina with the coast an hour and a half west, Sarajevo two and a half hours north, and Montenegro three hours southeast.

It is cheap. A guesthouse near the old bridge runs $35 to $60. The same night in Dubrovnik is $180 in August.

It empties out. The cruise and coach crowds arrive around 10am and are gone by 4pm. If you are sleeping here, you get the old town in the evening, which is when it is genuinely beautiful rather than merely busy.

A car is optional. Blagaj and Kravice both have organized tours and taxi rates that are reasonable, so you are not stuck if you arrive by bus.

If you have not read it yet, our Mostar travel guide covers the city itself in detail.

1. Blagaj Tekke

Distance: 20 minutes, 8 miles southeast
Time needed: 2 to 3 hours
Verdict: Do this one. It is the best short trip in Bosnia.

If you only leave Mostar once, go to Blagaj. A 16th century Ottoman dervish house sits at the base of a 600 foot limestone cliff, right where the Buna river emerges from a cave already at full volume. Not a trickle that grows into a river. A full river, appearing from a hole in a rock face.

The tekke itself is small and you can tour the interior for a couple of dollars. Remove shoes, cover shoulders and knees, and take the fifteen minutes to look at the rooms rather than just the exterior. Then sit at one of the riverside restaurants and order trout, which is farmed right there and is about as fresh as trout gets.

Go early. By late morning the parking lot fills with coaches and the riverside terraces are full. At 8:30am you can have the place close to yourself with mist still on the water.

Getting there: Taxi round trip with waiting time runs about $25 to $35. Local bus number 10 goes from Mostar for pocket change but is infrequent. Most Herzegovina day tours include it.

2. Kravice Waterfalls

Distance: 40 minutes, 25 miles south
Time needed: Half a day
Verdict: Essential in summer, skippable in winter.

Kravice is a horseshoe of waterfalls about 80 feet high dropping into a wide green pool on the Trebizat river, and unlike almost every famous waterfall in Europe, you are allowed to swim in it.

In July and August that single fact makes it the best afternoon in Herzegovina. The water is cold, there are rope swings and small boats, and there is a cafe on the gravel beach. It is a national monument rather than a wild swimming hole, so expect an entrance fee of roughly $6 to $10 in high season and a crowd on weekends.

In April or October the water is too cold to swim and it becomes a nice but ordinary waterfall stop. Judge accordingly.

Getting there: Easiest by car, and there is a large paid lot with a shuttle or a steep path down. No practical public transport. Nearly every Herzegovina tour bundles it with Blagaj and Pocitelj.

3. Pocitelj

Distance: 30 minutes, 18 miles south
Time needed: 1 to 2 hours
Verdict: The best value stop in the region, because it is free and it is on the way to Kravice.

Pocitelj is an Ottoman fortified village stacked up a hillside above the Neretva, with a mosque, a stone clock tower, a hammam and a fortress you climb for the view over the river valley. It takes about an hour to walk up and back and costs nothing.

The stairs are uneven stone and there is no shade, so do not attempt it at 2pm in August. Morning or late afternoon.

The women selling figs, pomegranate juice and dried herbs on the steps are a local institution. Buy something. It is a dollar and the fruit is excellent.

4. Herzegovina Wine Country

Distance: 20 to 45 minutes
Time needed: Half a day
Verdict: Underrated, and the single best reason to book a tour rather than drive.

The limestone and sun around Citluk, Ljubuski and Medjugorje produce a dry mineral white called Zilavka and rustic reds called Blatina and Vranac. Family wineries pour for walk ins, tastings are often free or a few dollars, and bottles run $8 to $18 for wine you would pay triple for with a Croatian label.

Bosnia enforces a near zero blood alcohol limit and police checks are common, so this is the day to let somebody else drive. Most operators run a half day wine trip out of Mostar that bundles two or three producers with lunch.

5. Sarajevo

Distance: 2.5 hours direct, 4 to 5 hours the scenic way
Time needed: Full day, or better, an overnight
Verdict: Do it as a leg of your trip, not as a day trip.

You can do Sarajevo from Mostar in a day. We would rather you did not. It is five hours of driving for a city that needs two days, and you would be skipping the best part, which is the M17 through the Neretva canyon with stops at Jablanica and Konjic.

If you must day trip it, take the train. The Mostar to Sarajevo railway follows the canyon, takes about two and a half hours, costs under $10, and is one of the most scenic rail journeys in southeast Europe. Go up early, spend six hours in Bascarsija, come back in the evening.

Better: build it into a route. Our Bosnia road trip itinerary does exactly that, and the Sarajevo guide covers what to do once you are there.

6. Medjugorje

Distance: 35 minutes, 20 miles southwest
Time needed: 2 to 4 hours
Verdict: Go if the subject interests you. Skip it if it does not.

One of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, based on reported Marian apparitions beginning in 1981. Millions come annually. St James church, Apparition Hill and Cross Mountain are the three sites.

We are being straight with you: if you have no interest in religious pilgrimage, this will not be your favorite stop, and the town around the site is heavily commercialized. If you do have an interest, it is one of the most significant places in the country and worth a half day.

7. Trebinje

Distance: 2 hours, 65 miles south
Time needed: Full day
Verdict: A great stop, but a poor day trip from Mostar.

Trebinje is lovely: a plane tree square, a walled Ottoman old town, a moved 16th century bridge and serious wine. But two hours each way from Mostar makes for four hours in the car to sit in a square, and both towns are the kind that reward slowness.

Do it as a transfer day instead. Mostar to Trebinje to Dubrovnik, or Mostar to Trebinje to Kotor, breaks an awkward drive into two good legs. Our Trebinje guide covers the routing.

8. Dubrovnik

Distance: 3.5 hours, two border crossings
Time needed: Very long day
Verdict: Only if Mostar is your base for a week.

Seven hours of driving and two border queues for a walled city that deserves two days is a hard sell. But the reverse trip is extremely popular, and if your flight home leaves from Dubrovnik, the drive is the drive either way.

If you do it, leave at 6am, and read our Dubrovnik guide and day trips from Dubrovnik first so you use the hours well.

9. Kotor and the Bay of Kotor

Distance: 3 hours, 100 miles southeast
Time needed: Overnight, not a day trip
Verdict: Continue there, do not day trip there.

The Bay of Kotor is one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in Europe and three hours each way is too much to give it an afternoon. Make it your next stop instead. Our Kotor guide and Montenegro road trip itinerary cover the onward route.

The Perfect Two Day Combination

If you have exactly two full days in Mostar, here is what we would do.

Day one, morning: Blagaj at 8:30am before the coaches. Trout by the river. Back in Mostar for lunch.
Day one, afternoon: The old town properly, minaret climb, bridge divers, dinner in the bazaar once the day crowd has gone.

Day two: Drive south. Pocitelj for an hour, Kravice for a swim and lunch, then a winery on the way back. Home by six, last evening on the bridge.

That is Herzegovina at its best and it costs very little.

Getting Around Without a Car

Plenty of people arrive in Mostar on the bus from Split or Dubrovnik and never intend to drive, and that is entirely workable. Here is how each trip changes.

Blagaj: the easiest. City bus number 10 runs from near the Mostar bus station for roughly a dollar, though the schedule is thin and you should confirm return times before you board. A taxi is the reliable option at about $25 to $35 round trip including waiting time, and drivers are used to the arrangement. Agree the price and the wait before you get in.

Pocitelj: any southbound intercity bus toward Capljina or the coast can drop you at the village, but getting picked back up is a gamble. Better as part of a tour.

Kravice: effectively car or tour only. There is no bus that leaves you within walking distance, and the last stretch is a steep access road.

Sarajevo: the train is the star. Two and a half hours through the Neretva canyon for under $10, with two departures most days. Book nothing in advance, just turn up at the station, and sit on the right hand side leaving Mostar.

Trebinje, Dubrovnik and Kotor: all have direct intercity buses from Mostar, but the timings are built for one way transfers rather than returns. Treat them as onward legs.

The short version: a car makes four of these trips better and two of them possible. If you are not driving, book one Herzegovina tour to cover Blagaj, Pocitelj and Kravice in a single day, and take the train to Sarajevo. That gets you almost everything.

Three Mistakes to Avoid

Going to Blagaj at midday. The whole appeal is the stillness of water coming out of a cliff, and at noon in July that is four coach loads of people and a full car park. Before 9am or after 5pm.

Treating Kravice as a sight rather than a swim. If you arrive in October, look at it for twenty minutes and move on. If you arrive in July, bring a towel, water shoes and three hours. It is a swimming destination first.

Trying to do Mostar, Blagaj, Pocitelj, Kravice and Medjugorje in one day. Tour operators sell this and it technically happens, but you get 35 minutes at each and spend the rest in a van. Two half days is the same money and a far better trip.

Tours vs Driving

Take a tour if: you want to drink wine, you arrived by bus, or you would rather not deal with the Kravice parking situation in August. Half day and full day Herzegovina tours from Mostar typically run $35 to $60 per person and cover Blagaj, Pocitelj and Kravice in one loop.

Drive if: you want Blagaj before the crowds, you want to linger at Kravice, or you are continuing to Sarajevo or Montenegro afterward. Rentals are $30 to $50 a day and parking in Mostar is easy and cheap outside the pedestrian core.

Note on rental cars from Croatia: you need written cross border permission and a green card insurance document. Confirm before booking.

Practical Notes

Currency: Convertible marks (BAM). Euros are taken at tourist sites at a poor rate. Carry cash for Pocitelj vendors, small restaurants and wineries.

Heat: Herzegovina regularly hits the mid 90s in July and August with very little shade at Pocitelj or on the Mostar bridge. Plan outdoor stops for before 11am or after 5pm.

Roaming: Bosnia is outside the EU, so EU roaming plans do not apply. Download offline maps before you leave the guesthouse wifi.

Swimming: Bring a towel and water shoes for Kravice. The riverbed is rocky and the water is cold even in August.

Where to Book

• Accommodation: Search Mostar stays on Booking.com. A guesthouse within five minutes of the Stari Most is the whole point of basing here, and it is still inexpensive.
• Tours: Browse Bosnia and Herzegovina tours on Viator. The Blagaj, Pocitelj and Kravice loop is the most common listing and the best value of the lot.
• Insurance: Border crossings, mountain roads and swimming under a waterfall are all reasons to be covered. See is travel insurance worth it.

Our Take

The four hour Mostar stop is the most common mistake visitors make in this country. Sleep here for two or three nights instead and the town turns into a base for one of the best clusters of day trips anywhere in the Balkans: a river born out of a cliff, a waterfall you can swim in, an Ottoman village that costs nothing, and wine at a third of Croatian prices.

Start with Blagaj, early. Everything else follows from there.

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Keep reading: Our Mostar travel guide covers the city itself, the Bosnia road trip itinerary shows how these stops fit a longer route, and how much a trip to Bosnia costs has the real numbers.