Mostar
Bosnia and Herzegovina
A stone bridge rebuilt after the war and dived from for money, an Ottoman bazaar either side of it, and the Neretva running green underneath
Photo by Yu Siang Teo on Unsplash
Photos by Anton Sharov, Ilse, Ilse and Datingscout on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Bosnia and Herzegovina
April to June, and September to October (July and August are 38°C on the stone and full of day-trippers by noon)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 190mm in Nov
Where it is
43.34°N, 17.81°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Watch the divers, and tip them
- Cross the bridge early, before the coaches
- Drink coffee at the Blagaj tekke
- Swim at Kravice falls
- Take the train to or from Sarajevo
Mostar travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Bosnia and Herzegovina
Good valueThe convertible mark is pegged to the euro at 1.95583 and euros are often accepted at that rate in Sarajevo and Mostar, though change comes back in marks. Exchange at a bank or a post office; the rate is fixed so there is little to shop for.
ATMs & cards
UniCredit, Raiffeisen and Sparkasse machines are free with most cards; the standalone machines around Baščaršija charge. Cash is still king in the markets and the smaller restaurants.
Avoid these
- the standalone machines around the old towns, which charge
Use these instead
- UniCredit
- Raiffeisen
- Sparkasse
The mark is pegged to the euro and euros are often taken at the fixed rate, with change in marks. Cash is still king in the markets and small restaurants.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Bosnia and Herzegovina
SafeComfortable and small. The stone of the bridge is polished and steep — it has ridges for a reason, and it is glass in rain. Do not dive from it; the divers train for it. The hills around the town still have mines: marked paths only. Day-trip crowds mean pickpockets on the bridge at noon.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the bridge in rain — polished stone; the ridges are there for a reason
- the hills around the town — mines remain; marked paths only
- the bridge at noon — pickpockets in the day-trip crowd
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Bosnia and Herzegovina visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Ninety days in any 180, on a passport or — for EU citizens — an identity card. Holders of a valid multiple-entry Schengen visa are also admitted without one, for up to 30 days.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Applied for at a Bosnian embassy in advance; there is no e-visa.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Tetanus up to date
- Tick-borne encephalitis for hiking in the forests in summer
Getting treated
Sarajevo has private clinics used to foreigners and a decent public hospital; Mostar is adequate; beyond them it thins. Insurance with evacuation cover is sensible, as anywhere the serious cases go abroad.
Tap water in Sarajevo and Mostar is drinkable. Landmines remain in the countryside from the 1990s: stay on marked paths, never cross tape, and take a guide in the hills. Ticks in the forests from spring.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodĆevapi and the coffee, as in Sarajevo, but with more Herzegovinian wine — the Žilavka white and the Blatina red are local and cheap. Eat on a terrace above the river in the evening once the coaches have gone; the bazaar prices drop with the crowd.
Getting around
Limited- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
- Against a taxi
- The taxis are metered, cheap and honest in the old towns; the ones at the airport and the stations round up. Insist on the meter or agree the fare.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Sarajevo — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Why these are Bosnia and Herzegovina's numbers and not Mostar's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 29% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Basic. Maps, messaging and music; a video call away from wifi will struggle. Mobile runs at 23% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Mostar, so these are medians for all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Bosnia and Herzegovina, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Bosnian
- HelloDobar danDO-bar dan
- PleaseMolimMO-leem
- Thank youHvalaHVA-la
- Yes / NoDa / Neda / neh
5 more phrases
- Excuse meIzviniteiz-VEE-nee-teh
- How much is it?Koliko košta?KO-li-ko KOSH-ta
- CheersŽivjeliZHEEV-ye-lee
- DeliciousVrlo ukusnoVR-lo OO-koos-no
- GoodbyeDoviđenjado-vee-JEN-ya
One language with three names — Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian — and everybody understands everybody. Latin script in Sarajevo and Mostar. English is good among the young and in the old towns; German is common among those who worked abroad.
Religion
Three faiths in one country: Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats
Roughly half Muslim, a third Orthodox, a sixth Catholic, and the division is the map of the 1990s war, which is why it is not small talk. Sarajevo's mosques welcome visitors outside prayer times — shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, a scarf for women — and Ramadan is observed in the old town, with the cannon at sunset. Alcohol is sold everywhere regardless.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Take the coffee slowly; a Bosnian coffee is an hour, and drinking it in five minutes is the insult
- Shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, and a scarf for women in a mosque
- Ask before photographing the cemeteries, which are recent
- Let people tell you about the war if they choose to, and do not press if they do not
Don't
- Do not raise the war, the politics or which entity is which as small talk
- Do not step off a marked path in the hills; the mines are real
- Do not order a "Turkish coffee" in Sarajevo; it is Bosnian
- Do not dive from the bridge in Mostar because the locals do; they trained for years
Where to stay in Mostar
No Holistay rentals in Mostar yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Mostar on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Sarajevo SJJ
2hfrom the airport· 130 km as the crow flies
2h by bus or train from the capital, or a hire car.
Also worth pricing: Split, Croatia SPU — two and a half hours and a border, but far more flights.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
