---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Wimup"
description: "A rebuilt Ottoman bridge, a front line still legible in the facades, and the best day trips in Herzegovina. The ten things worth your time in Mostar."
url: https://wimup.com/city/mostar
type: City guide
updated: 2026-10-29
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Mostar

Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina · Europe · By Wimup Editorial, 14 min read

Mostar is a small city carrying an outsized story. The Old Bridge came down in 1993 and went back up stone by stone in 2004, and the rest of the city has been doing the same thing ever since, unevenly and in public. Two days covers both halves.

## Quick answer

Cross Stari Most, the 1566 Ottoman bridge shelled in 1993 and rebuilt with the same stone in 2004, then climb the Koski Mehmed Pasha minaret for the angle everyone comes for. Give the afternoon to the Bulevar, where the front line is still readable in the facades, and the next morning to Blagaj, where the Buna arrives out of a cliff at full river volume.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** May, June and September
- **Ideal length:** 2 to 3 days
- **Budget per day:** $45-90
- **Language:** Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian
- **Getting around:** Walkable old town, a car for Herzegovina

## The 10 best things to do in Mostar

### 1. Cross Stari Most, the Old Bridge

Landmark · Stari Most, Old Town, 88000 Mostar

A pupil of Sinan finished the span in 1566, it stood 427 years, and shelling brought it down on 9 November 1993. What you cross opened on 23 July 2004: the same Tenelia limestone, the same Ottoman method, and blocks lifted off the riverbed by Hungarian army divers.

- **Time:** 30 min
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Early morning
- **Tip:** The Old Bridge cannot photograph the Old Bridge. Walk downstream to the Lučki bridge for the view every postcard uses.

Links: [Website](https://www.turizam.mostar.ba/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. Climb the Koski Mehmed Pasha minaret

Mosque · Mala Tepa, Old Town, 88000 Mostar

Built in 1618 and the one minaret in Mostar open to visitors. The stair is a tight spiral barely wider than your shoulders, and the reward is the only angle that puts the bridge, the Neretva and the old town roofs in a single frame.

- **Time:** 45 min
- **Cost:** Paid entry
- **Best at:** Late afternoon
- **Tip:** The riverside courtyard gives you most of the same view at ground level. Pay for the minaret if you want the bridge from directly above it.

### 3. Watch the Ikari jump the bridge

Tradition · Stari Most, Old Town, 88000 Mostar

Men have jumped from this parapet since 1664 and the divers still keep a hut on the bridge. One will work the crowd until the tips cover the jump, then go quiet, sit on the rail, and drop about 24 metres into water that rarely passes 10°C.

- **Time:** Allow 30 min
- **Cost:** Free to watch
- **Best at:** Midday in summer
- **Tip:** The collection is the show. Nobody jumps until the hat is full, so if you want to see it, put something in it.

### 4. Walk Kujundžiluk, the coppersmiths’ bazaar

Bazaar · Kujundžiluk, Old Town, 88000 Mostar

Still literally the coppersmiths’ street: the hammering you hear is metal being worked into coffee sets and pens, some of it from spent shell casings. It climbs from the bridge in riverbed cobbles set on edge and polished to a skid.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Before 10am
- **Tip:** Those cobbles are lethal in rain and the day-trip coaches arrive around eleven. Both problems are solved by going early.

### 5. Stand at the source of the Buna at Blagaj

Day trip · Blagaj Tekija, Blagaj, 88201 Mostar

Twelve kilometres out, a 16th-century dervish house stands at the foot of a 200-metre cliff, and the Buna arrives beside it from a cave already at full river volume. No trickle, no gathering stream: one of Europe’s strongest karst springs simply starts here.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Paid entry
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** The tekija is a working religious house. Cover shoulders and knees, and take shoes off at the door as you would in a mosque.

### 6. Read the front line along the Bulevar

War history · Bulevar narodne revolucije, 88000 Mostar

The Bulevar was the front line between 1993 and 1994, and it still separates Bosniak east from Croat west. Walk it north from Spanish Square and the story is in the facades: rebuilt, patched, or left with the shell scars exactly as they landed.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Any time
- **Tip:** Look up. At street level the shopfronts have all been redone, and the damage starts at the second floor.

### 7. Take the glass walkway at Fortica

Viewpoint · Fortica, above the eastern hill, Mostar

A glass-floored walkway roughly 35 metres long, cantilevered off the ridge about 5 km east of the centre, with the Neretva valley laid out beneath it. The adventure park behind it runs the country’s longest zip line, 570 metres of cable.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Free viewpoint, paid for the zip line
- **Best at:** Sunset
- **Tip:** No bus goes up. Take a taxi to the top and walk the road back down, which gives you the same view in slow motion.

### 8. Go up the Tara tower at the Old Bridge Museum

Museum · Tara Tower, Stari Most, 88000 Mostar

The museum sits inside Tara, the fortified tower that guarded the eastern end of the bridge and once held its gunpowder. It runs the archaeology of the crossing and film of the 1993 shelling, and the stair keeps climbing past the exhibition.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Paid entry
- **Best at:** Midday
- **Tip:** Most visitors stop at the exhibition floor. The last flight of stairs is the reason to buy the ticket.

### 9. See Karađoz Bey Mosque, the city’s largest

Mosque · Braće Fejića, 88000 Mostar

Finished in 1557 to a design from Sinan’s workshop, shelled to ruin in the 1990s and rebuilt by 2004. The minaret runs 34.5 metres and the interior carries the painted arabesques that the old town’s smaller mosques lost for good.

- **Time:** 30 min
- **Cost:** Paid entry, and it is a working mosque
- **Best at:** Between prayers
- **Tip:** It stands on Braće Fejića, the local shopping street. Five minutes from the bazaar and a completely different city.

Links: [Website](https://www.turizam.mostar.ba/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101:karaozbegova-damija-1557&catid=41:znamenitosti&Itemid=424&lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Look out of the divanhana at Bišćević House

House museum · Bišćevića, Old Town, 88000 Mostar

A 1635 merchant’s house cantilevered out over the Neretva on stone corbels. The divanhana, the raised sitting room, hangs directly above the water, and the low seating and carved chests are laid out as the household actually used them.

- **Time:** 30 min
- **Cost:** Paid entry
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** Muslibegović House uphill in Brankovac is the same idea and also a hotel, so you can sleep inside one of these.

## More of the Ottoman old town

Six beyond the bridge and the bazaar, from a 1630 clock tower to the market Mostar actually shops in.

1. **Kriva Ćuprija** (Ottoman bridge · Radobolja): The Crooked Bridge, a smaller rehearsal for Stari Most. A flood took it in 2000 and it was rebuilt.
2. **Kajtaz House** (House museum · Old Town): A late 16th-century nobleman’s house behind high walls, with a pebbled courtyard garden.
3. **Muslibegović House** (National monument · Brankovac): An Ottoman residence in Brankovac that is a national monument and a working hotel at once. [Website](https://www.muslibegovichouse.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Sahat Kula** (1630 · Old Town): The clock tower dates from 1630, stands about 15 metres, and was restored in 1999. [Website](https://www.turizam.mostar.ba/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106:sahat-kula-1630&catid=41:znamenitosti&Itemid=424&lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Tabhana** (Ottoman quarter · Old Town): The old tannery quarter beside the bridge, now a stone courtyard of cafe tables under arches.
6. **Tepa market** (Produce market · Mala Tepa): The open produce market, and where Herzegovina figs, pomegranates and honey are actually bought.

## Mosques and churches in Mostar

Five buildings that map the city’s faiths, and what each one has been through since 1992.

1. **Cathedral of Mary, Mother of the Church** (Catholic cathedral · Rondo): The Catholic cathedral, begun in 1974 in a plainly modern idiom and repaired after the war.
2. **Peace Bell Tower** (2000 · Franciscan church): 107 metres of reinforced concrete beside the Franciscan church, finished in 2000 and the tallest in southeastern Europe.
3. **Cathedral of the Holy Trinity** (Orthodox cathedral · East bank): The Serbian Orthodox cathedral, built 1863 to 1873, destroyed in 1992 and under reconstruction since 2011.
4. **Old Orthodox Church** (1830s · East bank): The small 1830s church below the cathedral, set low into the hillside because Ottoman rules capped its height.
5. **Nesuh-aga Vučjaković Mosque** (16th century · West bank): A 16th-century mosque on the west bank, rebuilt after the war like most of the city’s minarets.

## Reading the war in Mostar

Six places that say what happened here, from a bank tower snipers worked from to a statue nobody could object to.

1. **The Sniper Tower** (Former bank · Bulevar): The Ljubljanska Banka tower, held during the siege and used for sniping. Derelict, graffitied, entered at your own risk.
2. **Museum of War and Genocide Victims** (Museum · Old Town): Personal effects, photographs and forensic documents from 1992 to 1995, assembled largely by survivors.
3. **War Photo Exhibition** (Photography · Stari Most): Wade Goddard’s photographs of the siege, hung inside the tower at the western end of the Old Bridge.
4. **Bruce Lee statue** (2005 · Zrinjevac park): Unveiled in 2005 as a figure no community could claim, vandalised almost at once, and back in the park since 2013.
5. **Partisan Memorial Cemetery** (1965 · West bank): Bogdan Bogdanović’s 1965 necropolis for 810 named Mostar partisans, repeatedly vandalised and still extraordinary.
6. **Spanish Square** (Square · Rondo): The square at the western end of the front line, named for the Spanish soldiers who served here with the UN.

## Best restaurants in Mostar

Seven kitchens, from the grill locals name first to the terraces that earn the view they charge for.

1. **Tima-Irma** (Grill · Old Town): The address locals give for ćevapi. Portions are large, the queue is long, and neither is negotiable.
2. **Šadrvan** (Bosnian · Kujundžiluk): A courtyard under vines at the top of the bazaar, running the full Bosnian repertoire.
3. **Hindin Han** (Bosnian · Radobolja): A converted han with tables out over the Radobolja. Bosanski lonac, klepe and stuffed peppers.
4. **Restoran Lagero** (Bosnian · Old Town): Bosnian cooking on a terrace angled straight at the bridge, which is rarer than the listings suggest.
5. **Konoba Taurus** (Grill · Old Town): Stone walls, a narrow terrace and a grill. The most convincing old-house room in the bazaar.
6. **Food House Mostar** (International · Old Town): Central, broad menu, and the reliable answer on the night every old-town terrace is full.
7. **Megi** (Bosnian · Old Town): Herzegovinian plates without the tourist framing, a short walk off the bazaar.

## Best bars and cafes in Mostar

Four rooms worth the walk, one of them inside a cave and one inside an old mill.

1. **Black Dog Pub** (Craft beer · Radobolja): Craft beer in an old mill on the Radobolja, with tables set out over the stream.
2. **Ali Baba** (Cave bar · Old Town): A bar inside a cave in the rock behind the bazaar, which is exactly as odd as it sounds.
3. **Caffe Bar Marshall** (Late bar · Old Town): A small stone room of Yugoslav-era fittings, and one of the few places open through the night.
4. **OKC Abrašević** (Cultural centre · Bulevar): A cultural centre and bar on the old front line, running gigs, film nights and the city’s most mixed crowd.

## Viewpoints and outdoors around Mostar

Four ways out of the old town, two of them uphill and one of them very cold.

1. **Mount Hum** (436 m · West bank): 436 metres on the west bank, topped by the Millennium Cross raised in 2002, with the valley below.
2. **Fortica zip line** (570 m · Fortica): 570 metres of cable off the eastern ridge, the longest zip line in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
3. **Velež** (1,968 m · East of the city): The 1,968-metre massif east of the city, with marked hiking trails from the Podveležje plateau.
4. **Rafting the Neretva** (Rafting · Upper Neretva): Operators run the upper river north of the city. It holds single-digit temperatures in August, which is the point.

## Best day trips from Mostar

Six inside two and a half hours, and the reason a hire car beats the bus everywhere in Herzegovina.

1. **Kravice Waterfalls** (40 min · Ljubuški): A wide curtain of falls on the Trebižat, about 40 minutes south. Swimmable, and packed by noon in July.
2. **Počitelj** (30 min · Čapljina): An Ottoman hill town stepped up a cliff above the Neretva, half an hour down the valley. Climb to the fort.
3. **Međugorje** (40 min · Čitluk): The Marian apparition site of 1981, and one of Europe’s busiest pilgrimage towns, 40 minutes west.
4. **Stolac and Radimlja** (45 min · Stolac): The stećci necropolis at Radimlja, UNESCO-listed in 2016, beside an old Ottoman town on the Bregava.
5. **Sarajevo** (2 hrs · Sarajevo): Two hours by train through the Neretva canyon, which is reason enough to take the train rather than the bus.
6. **Dubrovnik** (2.5 hrs · Croatia): About two and a half hours to the coast, and how most visitors reach Mostar in the first place. [City guide](https://wimup.com/city/dubrovnik.md)

## Festivals & annual events in Mostar (2026)

- **Mostarsko proljeće** (Spring): The city’s spring culture programme, running concerts, readings and exhibitions across both banks.
- **Melodije Mostara** (Spring): A long-running festival of new songs written for the city, and a fixture of the Bosnian music calendar.
- **Mostar Blues & Rock Festival** (Summer): Blues and rock acts from the region and beyond, played outdoors in the warm half of the year.
- **Old Bridge Diving Competition** (July): The formal version of a jump the Ikari have made since 1664, judged from the riverbank.
- **Anniversary of the Old Bridge** (23 July): The rebuilt bridge reopened on this date in 2004, and the city has marked it every year since.
- **Mostar Summer Fest** (July): One of the country’s largest music festivals: three days of Balkan rock, pop and hip-hop.
- **Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series** (Summer): Mostar has hosted a stop ten times, with the crowd packed along both banks of the Neretva.
- **Šantićeve večeri poezije** (Autumn): Poetry evenings named for Aleksa Šantić, the Mostar poet, and part of the city’s literary calendar.

## Must-try dishes in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

- **Ćevapi**: Fingers of minced beef in a somun flatbread, with raw onion and kajmak. Ordered by the ten.
- **Sogan-dolma**: Mostar’s own dish: onions hollowed out, packed with minced meat and rice, then slow-baked.
- **Japrak**: Leaves rolled around meat and rice. Herzegovina reaches for chard where Bosnia uses vine.
- **Klepe**: Small meat dumplings under garlic yoghurt, and the closest thing here to a pasta course.
- **Burek**: Meat in coiled filo, sold by weight. Any other filling makes it a pita, not a burek.
- **Tufahija**: A whole apple poached and packed with walnuts under a cap of cream. Older than the bridge.
- **Hurmašice**: Semolina biscuits soaked in sugar syrup until they stop being dry. Served with coffee.
- **Žilavka and Blatina**: The Neretva valley’s white and red. Both are grown within an hour of the bridge.

## Mostar transport & airports

- **Mostar International Airport** (OMO): The city’s own airport at Ortiješ, about 7 km southeast. Traffic is seasonal and charter-heavy, so check whether anything flies on your dates before planning around it. [Website](https://mostar-airport.ba/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Rail to Sarajevo and the coast** (ŽFBH): Two trains a day each way to Sarajevo, about two hours, following the Neretva canyon most of the distance. The same line runs south to Ploče on the Croatian coast. [Website](https://www.zfbh.ba/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Intercity buses** (Coach): The real network here, reaching Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb. Mostar has two stations, east and west, and they serve different operators. Check which your ticket names.
- **On foot and by taxi** (Local): Everything in this guide inside the old town is fifteen minutes apart on foot. Herzegovina is the opposite: Blagaj has a city bus, and the rest of it wants a car or a driver for the day.

## Mostar at a glance

- **Country:** Bosnia and Herzegovina
- **Region:** Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- **Population:** 105,797 in the city (2013 census)
- **Founded:** First recorded in 1452, under Ottoman rule from 1468
- **Nickname:** The city of the bridge keepers
- **Language:** Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, all official
- **Currency:** Convertible mark (BAM), pegged to the euro at 1.95583
- **Time zone:** CET (UTC+1), CEST in summer
- **Calling code:** +387 36
- **Airports:** Mostar (OMO). Sarajevo (SJJ) and Dubrovnik (DBV) carry far more routes
- **Power:** 230V, 50Hz, Type C and F plugs
- **Emergency:** 112 general, 122 police, 123 fire, 124 ambulance

## Interesting facts

- The city is named for its bridge keepers. Mostari guarded the wooden span that stood here before the stone one.
- Stari Most stood for 427 years, fell on 9 November 1993, and reopened on 23 July 2004.
- Men have dived from the bridge since 1664, about 24 metres into water that rarely passes 10°C.
- At around 2,291 hours of sunshine a year, Mostar is the sunniest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The Peace Bell Tower beside the Franciscan church is 107 metres, the tallest in southeastern Europe.

## Watch

[Mostar Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/mostar.md), 10:26

## Mostar travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Mostar?

Two. One for the old town, the bridge, the minaret and the bazaar, and one for Blagaj and Počitelj. Plenty of people come as a day trip from Dubrovnik or Split and see the bridge in an afternoon, which works, but it misses the half of the city that is not Ottoman.

### Is Mostar safe to visit?

Yes. The war ended in 1995 and the city has been a mainstream destination for two decades. The damage you see is structural rather than active. The one real caution is the derelict buildings people climb for photographs, the Sniper Tower above all: no lighting, no railings, broken glass and open shafts.

### Can you swim in the Neretva?

People do, though the water is cold enough to matter: it rarely passes 10°C even in an August heatwave. Jumping from the bridge is not something to attempt untrained, which is why the divers charge and why they train from childhood. Swim from the banks downstream instead.

### What currency does Mostar use?

The convertible mark, BAM, pegged to the euro at 1.95583. Euros are widely taken in the old town, usually at a rounded rate that is not in your favour. Cards work in hotels and larger restaurants; the bazaar stalls and the divers are cash.

### When is the best time to visit Mostar?

May, June and September. This is the sunniest city in the country and the valley traps heat, so July and August run past 40°C at exactly the moment the old town is fullest. Winter is quiet and mild by Bosnian standards, and the bridge is effectively yours.

## Nearby guides

- [Dubrovnik](https://wimup.com/city/dubrovnik.md): Croatia · 10 picks
- [Hvar](https://wimup.com/city/hvar.md): Croatia · 10 picks
- [Kotor](https://wimup.com/city/kotor.md): Montenegro · 10 picks
- [All of Europe →](https://wimup.com/europe): 152 cities

Part of the [Bosnia and Herzegovina guide](https://wimup.com/country/bosnia-and-herzegovina.md) · [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [Cross Stari Most, the Old Bridge (official site)](https://www.turizam.mostar.ba/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [See Karađoz Bey Mosque, the city’s largest (official site)](https://www.turizam.mostar.ba/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101:karaozbegova-damija-1557&catid=41:znamenitosti&Itemid=424&lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Muslibegović House (official site)](https://www.muslibegovichouse.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Sahat Kula (official site)](https://www.turizam.mostar.ba/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106:sahat-kula-1630&catid=41:znamenitosti&Itemid=424&lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Mostar International Airport (official site)](https://mostar-airport.ba/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rail to Sarajevo and the coast (official site)](https://www.zfbh.ba/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.