Food & Wine

Drink Bosnian coffee the slow way in the old bazaar

Bosnian coffee is brewed slowly in a copper džezva and served in a small fildžan with sugar and rahat lokum — less a drink than a social ritual you sit down for, shared across Bosnia & Herzegovina and easy to find in the cafés of Mostar’s old bazaar.

Mostar

Eat ćevapi where locals queue for them

Ćevapi — small skinless sausages of grilled minced meat, served in a warm lepinja flatbread with raw onion and kajmak — are Sarajevo’s everyday dish and the thing the city’s old bazaar does best. The ritual is to find the tiny ćevabdžinica where the queue is longest, order by the piece, and eat standing or perched on a stool.

Sarajevo

Hear the stories of the siege from a local guide

The siege of Sarajevo (1992–95) is recent living memory, and the most meaningful way to understand it is to walk the city with a local who lived through it — the front lines, the sniper alleys, the memorials and the Tunnel of Hope.

Sarajevo

Walk from Baščaršija to the Austro-Hungarian centre

A ten-minute walk that crosses empires — from the Ottoman bazaar to the church towers, façades and shopfronts of the Habsburg city.

Sarajevo

Bosnian coffee, the slow way

Bosnian coffee is a ritual, not a takeaway — a copper pot, a tiny cup and an unhurried half hour in a bazaar café.

Sarajevo

Explore Jajce’s historic center, fortress and waterfall

A walking loop through the heart of Jajce — the fortress on the hill, the old town spilling down to the gorge, and the Pliva waterfall at the bottom — is the one experience every visitor should do.

Jajce

Visit the Pliva lakes and traditional watermills

A half-day upstream of Jajce to the turquoise Pliva lakes and the old wooden watermills at Mlinčići — the gentle, photogenic counterpoint to the town’s fortress and waterfall.

Jajce

Walk Trebinje’s old town and the Trebišnjica river

A relaxed walk through the compact centre of Trebinje — the fortress walls of Kastel, the plane-tree-shaded main square, the river promenade and the moved Arslanagić Bridge — is the simplest way to take in the town and the one thing every visitor should do.

Trebinje

Taste the wines of the Trebinje vineyards

The Trebinje region is the heart of Herzegovina’s wine country, growing the Žilavka white and Vranac red that have made the area’s name. A wine-tasting afternoon at the monastery cellars of Tvrdoš and the commercial wineries on the hills above town is the region’s signature experience.

Trebinje

Raft the Una river

The signature experience of Una National Park: a guided raft run down the river’s rapids, from splashy warm-summer stretches to bigger spring white water, with licensed local operators based in Bihać and the park.

Una National Park

Camp in the national park — Camp Buk and the riverside sites

Sleep inside the park: Camp Buk’s 10,000 m² of Una riverbank at Kulen Vakuf — room for 200 pitches, bungalows and a riverside restaurant — plus the quiet sites toward Martin Brod, with the waterfalls as your alarm clock.

Una National Park

Swim and spend a day on the Adriatic in Neum

A day in and beside the water of Neum Bay — swimming from the town’s small beaches and bathing platforms, resting on the shore, and eating fish beside the sea on the country’s only coast.

Neum

Explore Neum’s coast by foot and waterfront

A walk along Neum’s waterfront, coast road and the headlands of the bay — the way to read the town, its short coastline and the meeting of sea and karst on foot.

Neum

Swim and Snorkel at Cape Kamenjak

Spend a day on the wild coves of the Kamenjak headland — swimming, snorkelling and cliff-jumping in clear, protected water.

Pula

Rovinj Harbour, Market and Istrian Flavours Walk

A central food-and-culture walk through Rovinj’s working harbour, market area and nearby pedestrian streets, connecting the town’s fishing and batana heritage with Istrian seafood, olive oil, truffles, Malvasia and Teran.

Rovinj

Camping in Rovinj — Amarin, Veštar & Porton

Rovinj

Kujundžiluk

The coppersmiths’ quarter that tumbles down the east bank to the bridge — a lane of Ottoman workshops where kujundži still hammer coffee sets and trays by hand. The cobblestones, overhanging eaves and tiny shops are largely unchanged since the 16th century, and the street is the living heart of the old town.

Mostar

Baščaršija & Sebilj

The Ottoman old bazaar and its wooden fountain — the soul of the city.

Sarajevo

Tunnel of Hope

The lifeline tunnel of the siege — a moving, essential museum.

Sarajevo

Tvrdoš Monastery

A medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery set in a vineyard-covered valley beside the Trebišnjica, a few kilometres upstream of Trebinje. The seat of the Zahumlje and Herzegovina diocese, it is best known today for its working wine cellars, where monks produce the Žilavka and Vranac wines that have made the Trebinje region famous.

Trebinje

Freedom Square and Platani

Trg slobode — Freedom Square — is the main public square of Trebinje, shaded by a line of mature plane trees whose canopy is the most loved feature of the town centre and the setting for its everyday public life.

Trebinje

Martin Brod Waterfalls

A gentler, multi-step series of travertine falls beside the small riverside village of Martin Brod — the upper-gateway settlement of Una National Park and a quieter counterpart to Štrbački Buk.

Una National Park

Kulen Vakuf

A small riverside town in the upper park where the Una runs clear and green between forested banks, with a historic Ottoman bridge and the trailhead for the climb up to Ostrovica Fortress.

Una National Park

Foča Old Town & Historic Centre

The old centre of Foča beside the Drina — a riverside čaršija of Ottoman origin whose mosques, traders’ streets and riverfront carry the town’s long history, including the wartime loss and post-war rebuilding of its heritage.

Foča

Old Town

A maze of pastel houses, cobbled lanes and artists’ studios on the steep slopes leading up from the harbour to St Euphemia’s church.

Rovinj

Batana Ecomuseum and Spacio Matika

A community ecomuseum centred on the batana, Rovinj’s traditional flat-bottomed fishing boat, with the House of Batana interpretation centre and the preserved Spacio Matika tavern.

Rovinj

Poreč Harbour & Sveti Nikola Island

The waterfront promenade and the North Tower marking the old town’s edge.

Poreč

Main Square & St Stephen Bell Tower

The medieval summit square — Romanesque-Gothic bell tower, city loggia and cafés — where the whole village gathers.

Motovun

The Truffle Forests of the Mirna Valley

The oak and hazel woods below the town are the world capital of the white Istrian truffle — hunted by licensed families and their dogs for generations.

Motovun

St Nicholas Church & the Old Town

The parish church with its tall bell tower, the market square and the working streets of Istria’s inland capital.

Pazin

Savudrija Lighthouse

Croatia’s oldest lighthouse (1818) on the rocky cape at the country’s northwestern tip — the last light before Slovenia and Italy.

Umag

Korzo

The main pedestrian promenade through the city centre, lined with Habsburg façades, cafés and the City Tower.

Rijeka