We are wrapping up our final hours in Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina), and we really wish we had more time!
Nine days may seem like a lot for many travelers. But now that we’ve figured out the infrastructure and public transportation system, we could easily spend a month in Mostar, using it as a travel base to explore the region.
But that is neither here nor there.
Let’s get everyone up to speed with what we’ve been during our time in Mostar!
Our Strategy For Exploring Mostar
When we first arrived in Mostar at the train station, we were quickly handed a tourist map of the region and a pamphlet pitching tickets for the most popular bus tour of the area.
We considered taking the tour, but it really was geared toward tourists staying in Mostar for only a day or two. We would have visited key points in Mostar old town, then the historic village of Blagaj, the fortified settlement of Počitelj, with a final stop at Kravica Waterfall.
This day-long tour provides transportation but only gives you a small amount of time to visit each area due to the time it takes to get from place to place. And tickets cost €40 each, not including any entrance fees.
We are not against tours per se, and we didn’t think this one was a bad deal. But we know our exploration preferences very well at this point.
We like to take our time exploring the sights most important to us (often different from the masses), and not get hustled along with the herd of tourists. So if we think we can visit the same locations on our own with relative ease, then that is what we try to do.
So that was our goal – see most of the big sites offered on that tour our way, and then spend the rest of our time in Mostar taking in the local scene.
And we were pretty successful, we think! Although we did a hard pass on the waterfall after reading reviews and seeing the entrance fees.
Conquering Public Transportation (Mostar Bus)
Mostar does have a public bus system (Mostar Bus), but it isn’t easy to figure out for the casual tourist to use. Thankfully we were motivated to learn the system and it really opened doors to what we could see in the area.
All the Mostar public buses are yellow.
If you hunt long enough, you can find detailed Mostar Bus timetables (in English) on their dedicated website.
There are a bunch of different bus routes, each servicing different areas.
Seems easy. But the challenge is that none of the bus stops in Mostar are listed on Google Maps! So you have to use other means (like the Organic Maps app) to find their exact location. Adding to the confusion is that the identifying signage for the bus stops in Mostar is pretty terrible!
Thankfully for us, the bus stop we needed the most (Stanica) was right outside the bus/train station, so we never had any issues. But you need to pay attention to where you are dropped off so you can pick up the return bus again!
And the cost of the bus system is reasonable. They use a Zone system to charge you based on where you are traveling to and from.
Mostar is the center hub on this map.
Traveling only in Zone 1 will cost you 1.50 BAM ($0.86 USD). Tickets covering Zones 1 & 2 are 2.10 BAM ($1.20 USD). And Tickets covering Zones 1, 2, & 3 are 2.90 BAM ($1.66 USD).
Although there is the ability to pay for tickets online using the Mostar Bus app (Bosnian language only), most people just pay cash to the driver.
Our bus drivers didn’t speak English in our experience. But using Google Translate got our transportation needs conveyed.
Mostar Old Town
We spent many mornings and evenings wandering Mostar Old Town.
We aren’t sure if we’ve ever visited a more photogenic little place. It seemed that around every corner there was a new view to admire.
The Old Bridge in all its glory. The view is from next to the high diving platform.
If you click on the photo and zoom, you can see a bridge diver getting ready to jump!
So pretty at night.
It is easy to get lost in the winding streets and alleys of Old Town. You can see Crooked Bridge in the background.
We enjoyed exploring Old Town at night when most of the tourists were gone.
Very few tourists on Old Bridge, compared to daytime.
Lots of Turkish-style curios to be had – for a price.
The restaurants and hotels in this spot have wonderful stream views.
We also found good restaurants, sampled ice cream, and did wine tastings. And we discovered all sorts of secret back-alleys connecting the different areas, which was fun in its own right. The Organic Maps app was really helpful for this!
We also took a Free Walking Tour of Mostar, which we highly recommend. 2.5 hours well spent, and we got an unfiltered local perspective on what happened during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.
Mostar “New Town”
There is much more to Mostar than just the Old Town, although tourists are less common in these areas. We enjoyed exploring the parks, shops, and other sights in the Centar and Rondo areas, very close to our Airbnb.
There is a surprising amount of high-quality street art in Mostar.
Angry bunny.
You occasionally encounter a shot-out building that reminds you that Mostar was a casualty of the Bosnian War not that long ago.
Walking to Park Zrinjevac on a gloomy, rainy day.
The Mostar Secondary School is an architectural gem in these neighborhoods.
It was a great way to get out for an hour or two when rainy weather, or illness, limits what you can do.
Blagaj
We visited the town of Blagajusing the Mostar Bus system, and we are glad we did. Our favorite sights were not what the paid tour would have shown us!
The town’s architecture is a blend of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian styles, with many preserved buildings from the 16th to 19th centuries. Blagaj is home to several notable landmarks, including the Blagaj Fortress (Stjepan grad), the historic site where Grand Duke Stjepan Vukčić and Queen Katarina Kosača-Kotromanić were born. Blagaj Tekke, a 16th-century Dervish monastery, and Vrelo Bune, a natural spring that flows into the Buna River, are also popular sites.
When we arrived in Blagaj we first walked to Mlinica Restaurant Blagaj to get something for lunch. But we made sure to admire the local sights along the way!
Even the bridges for local traffic have character.
The water is emerald green, due to dissolved copper from the local geology.
An Ottoman-era mill house (?) from days gone by.
Rhonda researched our restaurant location in advance. We were excited because you can get a fantastic river view and a good deal on a meat plate for 2!
The restaurant view was perfect.
For 50 BAM ($28.55 USD) we got a ridiculous amount of food.
Food with a view! The meat plate included 6 cevapi, 2 sausages, 2 hamburger patties, 2 chicken skewers, 2 chicken cutlets, and a big pork chop. There was also a pile of grilled vegetables, french fries, and a basket of bread.
Needless to say, we didn’t eat much later for dinner.
After gorging ourselves, we decided that we would hike to Blagaj Fortress first, instead of immediately checking out Blagaj Tekke and Vrelo Bune.
The allure of seeing a semi-intact fortress (free to enter) on top of a precipice was too good to pass up! And we wanted to take our time and explore the site properly.
Our goal!
So we made the 1.7-mile uphill hike to the fortress site and were rewarded with fantastic views. We also had the fortress all to ourselves!
The final approach to the fortress.
View of the fortress from the southern wall. Lots of hidey holes to explore!
Panoramic view from the western corner of the fortress.
And the view of the surrounding area was lovely.
You can see Blagaj way down below.
I think we spent about an hour exploring, and our photos show why.
It is strange to us that tour groups only seem to show tourists Blagaj Tekke and Vrelo Bune. The fortress gets completely ignored by the tours! Perhaps they don’t want to force people to hike the distance, since the primitive parking area below the fortress can’t accommodate buses.
Yes, Blagaj Tekke has major religious significance and Vrelo Bune is beautiful. But honestly, it doesn’t take much more than 20 minutes to see everything, so we weren’t sure the experience justified the 10 BAM ($5.71 USD) entrance fee.
That said, it wasn’t much money to spend.
Still, the monastery and its location were very picturesque! Although the best views of Blagaj Tekke could be had from outside the paid zone on the other side of Vrelo Brun.
Blagaj Tekke is right on the edge of a series of waterfalls.
The monastery looks like something out of a fantasy novel. Note the cave from which the river emerges.
One of the prayer rooms inside of the monastery.
Rhonda wearing clothing appropriate for entry into the monastery.
We had a great day!
And doing it on our own allowed us time to do things the way we wanted. Had we taken the tour, I am sure we would have been disappointed with what we saw. But the fortress ended up being the star of the show.
Počitelj
Počiteljis a historic medieval fortified village located on the left bank of the Neretva River, south of Mostar. It is a UNESCO heritage-listed site and one of the best-preserved examples of old Bosnian life. The village suffered damage during the war, but restoration efforts have been underway since 2000.
We were eager to explore the narrow cobblestone streets, stone-built houses, and fortifications, and visit the 16th-century Sahat-Kula clock tower!
Getting to Počitelj was a little more challenging than visiting Blagaj, due to the inconvenient timing of buses that pass by Počitelj on the way to the city of Čapljina. But thankfully, taking the 9:13 am train from Mostar to Čapljina and the 4:42 pm train back provided a good alternative.
We just needed to figure out how to get from Čapljina city to Počitelj (and back), a distance of about 4 miles. We knew we could find a taxi to Počitelj at the Čapljina Train Station, but were less certain about a taxi back. But since it was only 4 miles away, we were prepared to walk if needed.
30 minutes before departure we purchased 2 round-trip Mostar/Čapljina tickets for a total cost of 19.28 BAM ($10.98 USD). It was an easy (and beautiful) 30-minute ride. And we had almost the entire train to ourselves!
Not many people go to Čapljina I guess.
When our train arrived in Čapljina, getting a taxi to Počitelj was no problem. And the price was right at 10 BAM ($5.70 USD), which is what we were expecting.
Once we arrived in Počitelj, we spent the next several hours exploring the entire walled village – especially its walls and fortresses. The entire main site is completely free, and they let you explore unsupervised to your heart’s content.
Our first destination was the main tower.
Cobblestone paths connect the main areas of Počitelj, as well as to the dwellings that are still lived in today.
The final ascent to the tower.
View from inside.
From the top floor, you can get great views.
You can properly see the entire Počitelj complex from here.
Looking back at the tower from a different viewpoint along the walls.
View from the battlements on the opposite side of Počitelj from the tower.
The structures and views were spectacular, which may be an understatement. The pictures probably don’t do the location justice.
There was a mosque there as well, rebuilt after it was destroyed during the Bosnian War. We paid the 3 BAM ($1.71 USD) entrance fee to get in, but the building only took about 10 minutes to explore and take interior photographs.
Rebuilt in the early 2000s.
Looks nice on the inside, but this is pretty much the entire interior.
During our visit, we had a long lunch at Bistro Stari Grad to share another meat plate for 2. Total cost for this one was only 30 BAM ($17.13 USD). The amount of food, as usual, was obscene.
Good god.
Once we had our lunch and sightseeing fill we looked around for a taxi and, as expected, there was none to be found. We did see a taxi while we were eating, but we suspect that it was just shuttling tourists to the site.
In other words, you have to rely on luck to get a taxi from Počitelj back to Čapljina.
We made the walk back to Čapljina without issue, although we had to be a little wary about car traffic due to the lack of sidewalks. Thankfully the walk back was pretty much all downhill.
We got back to Čapljina about 1 hour before departure. So we stopped at a local cafe to refresh ourselves and kill some time before our 4:42 pm trail left.
The return ride went without any problems.
What a great way to spend a day at Počitelj. From what we could tell from eavesdropping on tour groups visiting the site, tourists were only given 45 minutes to explore!
We took over 3 hours, had an epic lunch on-site, and a gorgeous train ride.
A much better experience for travelers like us.
Closing Thoughts
We have loved our time in Mostar and wish we could have spent a month there!
At first, we weren’t sure that we would be able to fill a month. But now that we are comfortable with the local transportation options, we could do all sorts of hikes in the surrounding areas. Not to mention we could visit more off-the-beaten-path places.
We have a feeling we’ll be making a slow-travel return visit to Bosnia & Herzegovina in the future. This country has really resonated with us!
But now we have to pack our bags and head to our new destination – Kotor in the country of Montenegro. Hopefully, our 6-hour cross-border bus ride will go smoothly!
Wish us luck.
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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2 thoughts on “Wrapping Up Our Time In Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina)”
You have beautiful weather to hike in!!
We had great weather, except when we didn’t!😂