Complete guide to Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina fits into a small space, 51,000 km², yet concentrates a rare diversity in Europe. From our agency in Sarajevo, we see travelers every week surprised by the contrasts: Ottoman minarets at Baščaršija, Austro-Hungarian facades on Ferhadija, and thirty minutes later, the firs of Mount Bjelašnica at 2,000 meters altitude.

The country is organized around four main regions. The Miljacka valley and Sarajevo, where four religions meet within a few hundred meters. Herzegovina to the south, drier and more Mediterranean, with Mostar, its bridge rebuilt in 2004, and the Žilavka vineyards around Trebinje. The central high plateaus around Travnik and Jajce, dotted with waterfalls and medieval fortresses. Finally, Krajina in the northwest, its Una canyons and rafting on the Vrbas.

Two distinctive features mark a stay here: the cuisine, shaped by five centuries of Ottoman Empire, ćevapi, burek, Bosnian coffee served in a džezva, and a recent memory of the 1992-1995 conflict that local guides recount without hesitation. Allow 8 to 12 days to combine Sarajevo, Mostar, and a mountain range; 15 days to add Krajina and the Orthodox monasteries of the east.