By camper to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Kravice Waterfalls

What is it like to drive in Bosnia and Herzegovina, see the wonderful Mostar, dip your feet in the waterfalls Kravice, then be on the verge of getting stuck and finally spending the night 1 meter from the sea sand, read in the next Part of our camper trip to the Western Balkans and Italy.

More information about the route, costs and all travelogues of the trip can be found here.

BACK TO THE PREVIOUS TRAVELOGUE –> DAY 3: By camper to Dubrovnik, Croatia

Day 4: Dubrovnik - Mostar - 130 km. ( 3:00 hours)

The next city, which was the turn to look at and get into its atmosphere, was Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In principle, we would not have left for Bosnia unless I had read before that this city is very beautiful and worth the visit.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The distance between Dubrovnik and Mostar is 130 km and according to the navigation we had to cover it in 2 hours and 20 minutes. However, the road, which was in an extremely terrible condition, turned out to be a problem.

A single-lane road through vast mountains with many curves, lots of buses, and trucks. It took us more than three and a half hours to reach the other side of the mountain.

At noon we arrived at Mostar. The place where we parked is located at the following coordinates:

43.337612        17807771
N 43°20'15.4″ E 17°48'27.97″

This is a free public parking lot in the residential area of Mostar, located among apartment buildings right next to the Konzum Super Market. It’s a 5-minute walk from the city’s biggest attraction—the Old Bridge. In fact, there are several other large parking lots that are either free or cost 1 euro per hour, and all of them are close to the city center.

The official currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Bosnian convertible mark, or “km” for short. It’s easy for Bulgarians to calculate, because 1 mark = 1 BGN.

Sights in Mostar

Mostar is a city that was under the strong influence of the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is clearly evident from the various buildings in various architectural styles, preserved to this day.

Stari Most is the symbol of Mostar and among the most popular sights in Bosnia. In the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, Mostar was a small town of a dozen houses, and the bridge over the Neretva River was wooden and uncertain. The Ottomans captured the region in 1468 and almost a hundred years later Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ordered the construction of a new - stone bridge over the river. The construction of the bridge lasted 9 years - from 1557. until 1566 And so the city began to grow, nowadays it is the unofficial capital of Herzegovina. At that time, old bridge had the largest arch in the world.

The bridge is 21 meters high and was unfortunately destroyed in 1993. Eleven years later (2014) was fully restored. For the restoration of the bridge, some of the old stones were used, specially removed from the waters of the Neretva river after the war.

The Neretva River, over which the Old Bridge spans, is one of the coldest rivers on the planet; its temperature often drops below 7°C, and in Mostar, the river’s temperature is 12°C.

One interesting thing you might notice on some of the buildings are bullet holes from the Muslim-Croat War around 1993. They are less common in the city center and more prevalent in the outlying neighborhoods.

War Photo Exhibition is an exhibition with photos and objects from the war and is located at one end of Stari Most. Until recently, the visit was free, but now there is a modest entrance fee.

An interesting attraction are the so-called jumpers – these are local people who jump from the bridge into the river, then collecting tips from all the watching tourists.

Around Stari Most there are many shops with various souvenirs - from bullets, through magnets and cards to souvenirs related to the official religion in the country - Islam. Also, you can take a picture with a Bosnian woman in a traditional costume, as I did and it cost me 1 euro.

There is also a wide variety of restaurants. Since it was already lunchtime, we settled in a restaurant where we saw that other tourists were eating and decided not to be behind them and ordered 4 different dishes. The portions we were served afterwards were huge in quantity, extremely cheap and very tasty.

As I wrote earlier, the truth is that I had only read how beautiful a city Mostar is, but I was not convinced of that until we came here. Now, seeing everything on the spot, I have convinced myself that it is really an extremely pleasant place to walk, and I recommend it to everyone who has gone on this route and passes by it to stop, explore and eat a typical Bosnian manja.

–> Browse and book a budget hotel in Mostar at a discount. Vide HERE!

Mostar - Kravice Falls - Trogir - 180 km. (3:00 hours)

Kravice Falls (Kravice Falls)

During the preliminary preparation for this camper trip, we thought a lot about whether to include the popular Plitvice Lakes in the program, but unfortunately they fell quite off our route, apart from taking a day and a half to go there, viewing and returning. So I started looking for other alternatives to similar lakes or waterfalls. That's how we came across Kravice Falls. My husband is a big fan of waterfalls, lakes, dams, beaches and generally in all places where there is water.

There is a huge free parking lot next to the entrance, in the sun. Summer opening hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The ticket price is 20 km for an adult and 10 km for a child over 7 years old. Children under 7 are free. You will find up-to-date information here.

After we bought our tickets, there were two options for getting to the waterfalls themselves, which are located about 1 kilometer from the entrance. One option was to walk 10–15 minutes down the trail, and the other was to take a small train, which cost an additional one euro per person. We decided to walk down to the waterfalls on the way there, but on the way back—since we were very tired—we took the train, and the kids had a lot of fun.

The waterfalls themselves are not high, but they are quite wide in area. An incredibly beautiful cascade of waterfalls and only about 40 minutes away from Mostar. Bathing and swimming are officially allowed under the falls, as long as you can withstand the cold. The truth is that the water was quite cold and cloudy. It was crowded with people in the summer. It is important to bring your own towel as well as a blanket to spread on the green areas. Also on site you can rent a sunbed for the whole day for 4-5 euros. There are a few short eco-trails in the waterfall area to take a walk, as well as restaurants where you can have lunch or drink something cold.

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First night in Trogir

After the Kravice Waterfalls, it was time to head toward Split and Trogir. Right up until the last minute, we were debating which of the two cities to spend the night in. At first, we liked a spot on Park4night near a beach in Split, where we squeezed in so tightly that the camper almost got stuck—it was just a matter of a few centimeters before it would have gotten stuck. The street was that narrow…
In the end, we spent the night in Trogir at the following coordinates:

43.516102    16.257299
N 43°30'57.96″ E 16°15'26.27″

It is a roadside parking lot in Trogir, in that part of the city, which is located on the island of Chiovo, 500 meters from the old town of Trogir. A meter from the sand and 4-5 meters from sea water ( ! ), which ranks this place in one of the most panoramic places where we slept during our camper adventure. On the other hand, it was quite noisy at night, as there was a lot of traffic on the boulevard where we had parked. At times we felt like a bigger car or truck was going to blow us away. Opposite where we had parked was the airport of Split, so we often saw a variety of planes landing or taking off. In general, there was a lot of movement over our heads.

We had no problems with the police or the locals, we took out the table with our seats close to the camper and ate without any problems against the background of the sea waves (and the cars passing by).

The rules for camper parking in Croatia are as follows - only the designated camper stops and campsites are allowed. It is also possible to stop at public parking lots, unless there is an express ban that campers are prohibited from accessing and as long as the dimensions of the camper do not interfere with traffic. There are also some free places, but the police may cause you a problem there, especially if you have decided to spend the night or earn all the property outside the camper. In our case, we did not have to pay for parking anywhere in Croatia, nor were we fined. Even in Trogir we spent the night 2 nights in the same place and had no problem.

TO THE NEXT TRAVELOGUE —-> DAY 5: ORGANIZED TOUR AROUND TROGIR