Mostar and Herzegovina

The Neretva, the karst and the bridges

Herzegovina is the southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Neretva, an emerald-green river, flows through it. North of Mostar, the road climbs up its gorge between limestone cliffs, then runs along a reservoir to Konjic and its old bridge.

Mostar is best seen on foot, between the Stari Most, the mosques and the old bazaar. Further south, you pass through Međugorje, where six young people said they saw the Virgin Mary in 1981, then swim at the foot of the Kravica waterfalls.

To the east, the road crosses plateaus of white stone and half-empty villages, then drops down to Trebinje, with its plane trees and Ottoman bridge. The town is in Republika Srpska, the country’s other entity: no checks, but road signs in Cyrillic.

The Ottomans held Herzegovina from the 15th century until 1878. They left mosques, baths and, above all, bridges. Mostar’s Stari Most was completed in 1566 by Mimar Hayruddin, a pupil of the great architect Sinan. On 9 November 1993, it collapsed under fire from Bosnian Croat forces. Rebuilt with the same local stone, it reopened in 2004 and UNESCO listed it in 2005. In summer, young people dive from its arch, some twenty metres above the water.

The Konjic bridge dates from 1682. Blown up by the Germans in 1945, it was rebuilt in 2009. Trebinje’s Arslanagić Bridge is said to date from 1574. Because of a dam, it was taken down stone by stone and rebuilt in the town in 1972. Počitelj, a fortified village above the Neretva, got its mosque and tower back after the war.

The karst of Herzegovina

Here, the ground beneath is karst: limestone where water seeps in and flows underground. On the surface, you see stony plateaus and poljes, enclosed plains with fertile soil, such as Popovo polje. On its edge, Vjetrenica Cave, at Zavala, has been a World Heritage Site since 2024. More than 200 species have been recorded there. Its name means “the cave of the wind”: in summer, a draught of cold air blows out of the entrance.

In the Middle Ages, this limestone was carved into stećci, large tombstones found only in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighbours. Twenty-eight necropolises have been on the UNESCO list since 2016, twenty of them in the country. At Radimlja, near Stolac, you can see hunters, round dances and a man raising an oversized hand.

What not to miss

1. 1The minaret of the Koski Mehmed Pasha MosqueOne of the finest views of the Stari Most.
2. 2KujundžilukThe cobbled street of the old bazaar and its copper workshops.
3. 3The Partisan CemeteryA memorial of stone terraces by Bogdan Bogdanović, from 1965, long left to decay.
4. 4The Jablanica bridgeAn iron bridge blown up in 1968 for the film The Battle of Neretva.
5. 5The Kravica waterfallsFalls of about 28 metres and a pool for swimming.
6. 6Hercegovačka GračanicaThe church where the poet Jovan Dučić is buried, above Trebinje, best seen at sunset.

Mostar and Herzegovina in pictures

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The Arslanagić Bridge and its arches over the Trebišnjica, in Trebinje.

The Herzegovinian table

The food is that of the Ottoman Balkans: ćevapi, small grilled sausages served in a flatbread with onion; stuffed vine leaves and vegetables. At Blagaj, you eat trout beside the Buna. Bosnian coffee comes in a small copper pot, with a piece of Turkish delight.

For wine, this is the country’s main region. The white is called žilavka, the reds blatina and vranac. Near Trebinje, Tvrdoš monastery keeps its wine in a cellar that partly dates back to the 15th century. In autumn, figs and pomegranates are sold by the roadside around Čapljina.