Croatia
Montenegro
SerbiaRome conquers the Illyrians
Local Illyrian tribes rose up against Rome in AD 6. After four years of hard fighting, one of Rome's most difficult wars, the revolt was put down in AD 9 and the land became part of the Roman Empire.
Southeast Europe
Bosnia and Herzegovina
A mountainous land of rivers, stone bridges and old bazaars, where East and West have met for centuries, with a tiny strip of Adriatic coast.
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Overview
Bosnia and Herzegovina at a glance
Bosnia and Herzegovina lies in the western Balkans. It is mostly mountains and forest, crossed by the Dinaric Alps and by rivers such as the Sava, Drina, Bosna, Vrbas, Una and Neretva. Bosnia is the larger, northern part of the country, with cold, snowy winters; Herzegovina in the south is drier, with a Mediterranean climate and a single short stretch of coast around the town of Neum.
Its history is layered. A medieval Bosnian kingdom was followed by about four centuries of Ottoman rule, which brought Islam, bazaars, mosques and graceful stone bridges. Austria-Hungary took over in 1878, and in the 20th century the country was part of Yugoslavia. It declared independence in 1992, and the war that followed lasted until the end of 1995.
Today about 3.4 million people live here. Roughly half are Bosniaks, most of them Muslim, about a third are Serbs, most of them Orthodox Christian, and about one in six are Croats, most of them Catholic. Under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement the country has two largely self-governing entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. Since 2000 there is also the self-governing Brčko District, which formally belongs to both. A three-member presidency, one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb, heads the state. As of September 2026, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a candidate to join the European Union.
CapitalSarajevo
PopulationAbout 3.4 million (official estimate); 3.53 million at the 2013 census
LanguagesBosnian, Croatian and Serbian, with equal status. The state constitution itself names no official language
CurrencyBosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark (KM), fixed to the euro
AreaAbout 51,200 km²
GovernmentFederal parliamentary republic with a three-member presidency
Highest mountainMaglić, 2,386 m at its Bosnian summit, on the border with Montenegro
Longest river inside the countryThe Bosna, 282 km, which gave the country its name. The longer Drina (346 km) runs partly along the border with Serbia, and the Sava forms the northern border with Croatia
NeighboursCroatia, Serbia and Montenegro. It has only about 20 km of coast, at Neum on the Adriatic Sea
Drives on theRight
Calling code+387
The story
A short history of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina's story runs from Illyrian tribes and Roman soldiers, through a medieval kingdom and four centuries of Ottoman rule, to Austria-Hungary, Yugoslavia, a painful war in the 1990s and a peace that still shapes the country today.
AD 9 1189 The Charter of Ban Kulin
Ban Kulin, ruler of the Banate of Bosnia, promised the merchants of Dubrovnik free movement and trade across his land. Written on 29 August 1189 in Latin and in an early Slavic language, the charter is one of the oldest state documents of the region.
1377 Tvrtko crowned king
Ban Tvrtko Kotromanić had himself crowned king, and Bosnia became a kingdom. By the 14th century it was the most powerful state in the western Balkans.
1448 Herzegovina gets its name
The nobleman Stjepan Vukčić Kosača took the title 'Herceg', from the German word Herzog, meaning duke. His lands in the south became known as Herzegovina, the duke's land.
1463 The Ottoman conquest
The Ottoman Empire conquered the Kingdom of Bosnia. Over the next four centuries Islam spread, and towns such as Sarajevo and Mostar grew into centres of trade with mosques, markets and bridges.
1577 The bridge at Višegrad is finished
The great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan completed an 11-arched stone bridge over the Drina at Višegrad, ordered by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović. It later inspired the novel The Bridge on the Drina.
1878 Austria-Hungary takes over
At the Congress of Berlin, Austria-Hungary won the right to occupy and run Bosnia and Herzegovina, which stayed formally Ottoman. It annexed the country outright in 1908, and brought new laws, institutions and industries.
1914 Shots in Sarajevo
On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Young Bosnia movement, shot dead Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, near the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo. The killing set off the chain of events that led to the First World War.
1918 Part of a South Slav kingdom
After the First World War, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929.
1943 Wartime councils restore Bosnia
During the Second World War, in which more than 300,000 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina died, Tito's Partisan movement held councils in Mrkonjić Grad and Jajce in November 1943. They restored Bosnia and Herzegovina as a republic within a future Yugoslav federation, which it became after the war.
1984 The Sarajevo Winter Olympics
In February 1984 Sarajevo hosted the XIV Winter Olympic Games, with more than 1,200 athletes from 49 countries. The Games were seen as a great success.
1992 Independence and war
After a referendum that most Bosnian Serbs boycotted, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence on 3 March 1992 and was recognised internationally on 6 April. War followed. Bosnian Serb forces, supported by Serbia, took control of much of the country, and from late 1992 to early 1994 Bosnian Croat and government forces also fought each other. Sarajevo was besieged for almost four years. More than 100,000 people were killed and over 2 million had to leave their homes.
1995 The Srebrenica genocide
In July 1995 Bosnian Serb forces took Srebrenica, which the United Nations had declared a safe area, and killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys. The UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (in 2001, confirmed on appeal in 2004) and the International Court of Justice (in 2007) ruled that this was genocide. It is remembered every year on 11 July.
1995 The Dayton peace agreement
Peace talks at an air force base near Dayton, Ohio, ended the war in November 1995, and the agreement was formally signed in Paris on 14 December. It kept one state made up of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with an international High Representative overseeing the peace.
2004 Mostar's Old Bridge reopens
Mostar's 16th-century Old Bridge, destroyed by shelling in November 1993, reopened on 23 July 2004 after being rebuilt with Ottoman building methods. A year later UNESCO added the Old Bridge area to the World Heritage List.
2022 EU candidate status
On 15 December 2022 the European Union made Bosnia and Herzegovina an official candidate for membership. In March 2024 EU leaders agreed in principle to open membership talks once further conditions are met.
At the table
What to eat in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian food brings together the Ottoman kitchen, Central Europe and the Mediterranean. Dishes are often slow-cooked in plenty of water, with vegetables, beef and lamb, and spices used lightly. Many Bosniaks, being Muslim, do not eat pork, while Serbs and Croats may. A meal may start with a warm soup such as begova čorba, go on to a stew, stuffed vegetables or grilled meat with fresh bread, and end with a syrupy sweet and a small cup of strong coffee.
Main courseRecipe
Ćevapi
ćevapi
All of the country, with famous styles from Sarajevo and Banja Luka
Small fingers of grilled minced beef, served five or ten at a time in a warm, soft flatbread called somun, with chopped raw onion and often kajmak, a rich clotted cream.
Sarajevo ćevapi are finger-shaped and served in dry somun, while in Banja Luka four rolls are joined into a flat square and the bread is dipped in meat juices. In 2024 'Sarajevski ćevapi' received a protected geographical indication in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 800 g minced beef, not too lean (about 20% fat)
- 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (optional, for a lighter texture)
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 4 pieces of somun or other soft flatbread, or pitta bread
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- Kajmak, soured cream or ajvar pepper relish, to serve
Method
- Mix the beef with the salt, pepper, bicarbonate of soda and cold water. Knead with your hands for 3 to 4 minutes until sticky, then cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
- With wet hands, shape the meat into fingers about 8 cm long and as thick as a thumb.
- Heat a grill, barbecue or heavy frying pan until very hot. Cook the ćevapi for 8 to 10 minutes, turning often, until browned outside and cooked all the way through with no pink in the middle.
- Warm the bread on the grill for a few seconds on each side, and cut it open like a pocket.
- Put five to ten ćevapi in each bread with chopped onion and a spoonful of kajmak or soured cream. Serve at once.
Snack
Burek and other pita
burek, pita
All of the country
Paper-thin pastry rolled around a filling of minced meat, coiled into a big spiral and baked. In Bosnia only the meat version is called burek; with cheese it is sirnica, with potatoes krompiruša, and all of them together are called pita.
In 2012 Lonely Planet included the Bosnian burek in its book 'The World's Best Street Food'.
SnackRecipe
Spinach pie
zeljanica
All of the country
A savoury pie of thin pastry filled with spinach, or sometimes chard, and fresh white cheese bound with egg. It is eaten warm or cold, for breakfast, lunch or supper.
In a 2023 ranking of the world's best pastries, the food guide TasteAtlas placed zeljanica above burek, sirnica and krompiruša.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g ready-made filo pastry sheets
- 600 g fresh spinach, washed, or 400 g frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 300 g fresh white cheese, such as cottage cheese or crumbled feta
- 3 eggs
- 150 ml soured cream or plain yogurt
- 100 ml sunflower oil, plus a little for the tin
- Salt, to taste
Method
- If using fresh spinach, wilt it in a large pan for 2 minutes, drain well, squeeze out the water and chop it.
- Mix the spinach with the cheese, eggs and soured cream. Add salt carefully, as the cheese may already be salty.
- Heat the oven to 200°C and oil a round or square baking tin of about 28 cm.
- Lay a filo sheet on the worktop and brush it lightly with oil. Spread a line of filling along one long edge and roll it up loosely into a long sausage. Coil it in the tin, starting from the middle, and repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling.
- Brush the top with oil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until deep golden. Rest for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges.
StarterRecipe
Bey's soup
begova čorba
Sarajevo and all of the country, from the Ottoman period
A creamy chicken and vegetable soup with rice and dried okra, finished off the heat with soured cream, egg yolks and a squeeze of lemon. It is a festive dish offered to guests at weddings and religious holidays.
The name means 'the bey's soup'. A bey was a gentleman of high rank in the Ottoman Empire, so it is sometimes called 'gentlemen's soup'.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 2 chicken legs or 500 g chicken on the bone
- 1.5 litres water and 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 carrots, 1 small celery root or parsley root, diced
- 60 g rice, cooked separately
- A handful of dried okra, soaked in water for 30 minutes (or 100 g fresh okra, sliced)
- 2 egg yolks (use pasteurised yolks if serving pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with a weak immune system)
- 150 ml soured cream
- Juice of ½ lemon
Method
- Simmer the chicken in the salted water for about 45 minutes, until tender. Lift it out, take the meat off the bones and cut it into small pieces. Strain the broth.
- Put the broth back on the heat with the carrots, celery root and okra, and simmer for 20 minutes until soft.
- Add the chicken and cooked rice and heat through for 5 minutes. Season with lemon juice and salt. Take the pan off the heat.
- Whisk the egg yolks with the soured cream. Stir in a ladle of hot soup, then pour the mixture into the pan, stirring. Do not let the soup boil again, or it will curdle.
- Serve at once, with bread.
Main course
Stuffed onions
sogan-dolma
Sarajevo and all of the country
Whole onion layers filled with minced beef, rice and spices, gently cooked in a light tomato sauce and served with soured cream or yogurt.
Soğan is the Turkish word for onion. The same dish is cooked in Turkey and Armenia.
Main course
Cabbage and vine leaf rolls
sarma, japrak
All of the country
Minced meat and rice rolled in pickled cabbage leaves, or in vine leaves, then slowly simmered in a pot.
Sarma is a Turkish word meaning 'wrapped thing', and the dish came to the Balkans with Ottoman cooking.
Main course
Meat under the bell
meso ispod sača
All of the country, especially the countryside
Lamb, veal or goat with potatoes, slowly roasted under a metal or clay lid called a sač, which is covered with hot coals and ashes.
Bread
Somun bread
somun
Sarajevo and all of the country
A round, soft, flat bread with a golden crust, the classic bread for ćevapi. During Ramadan, a special Ramadan somun sprinkled with nigella seeds is baked.
In the local languages the word 'pita' means pie, so the bread you might call pitta at home is called somun or lepinja here.
Side dish
Kajmak
kajmak
All of the country; Travnik's kajmak is a local speciality
A thick, salty dairy spread made from milk fat, a little like clotted cream or a drier cream cheese. It is spread on bread and served with ćevapi.
Starter
Vlašić cheese
vlašićki or travnički sir
Mount Vlašić, above Travnik in central Bosnia
A white, salty sheep's milk cheese ripened in brine for two to three months. It is served with bread, tomatoes and cured meats on a meze platter.
The herbs the sheep eat on the Vlašić mountain pastures are said to give the milk its special flavour.
DessertRecipe
Walnut-stuffed apples
tufahija
All of the country
Whole apples poached in sugar syrup and filled with chopped walnuts, served in a glass with their own syrup and a crown of whipped cream.
Tufahija is usually served with a cup of coffee.
See the recipe
Ingredients
- 6 firm, sharp apples, such as Granny Smith
- 300 g sugar and 1 litre water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 120 g walnuts, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons of the sugar syrup or honey, to bind the walnuts
- 200 ml whipping cream, whipped
- A few cherries or pieces of fruit to decorate (optional)
Method
- Peel the apples and remove the cores with a corer, leaving them whole. Rub them with lemon juice.
- Bring the water, sugar and remaining lemon juice to the boil in a wide pan. Add the apples and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes, turning them, until just tender but still holding their shape. Lift them out.
- Boil the syrup for another 10 minutes until it thickens a little. Leave to cool.
- Mix the walnuts with 2 tablespoons of syrup or honey and press the mixture into the holes in the apples.
- Place each apple in a glass or bowl, pour over some syrup, top with whipped cream and decorate. Serve chilled, with coffee.
Dessert
Baklava
baklava, ružice
All of the country
Many layers of thin pastry and chopped walnuts, baked until crisp and soaked in sweet syrup, in the Middle Eastern style that shaped many Bosnian sweets.
Ružice, meaning 'little roses', are a Bosnian variety of baklava baked in small rolls.
Dessert
Syrup cakes
hurmašice
All of the country
Small cakes shaped like dates, with a ridged top, baked and then drenched in sweet syrup.
Hurmašice are among the favourite sweets made for the Islamic holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
Drink
Bosnian coffee
bosanska kahva
All of the country
Strong, finely ground coffee boiled with water in a small pot and poured, grounds and all, into small cups. It is drunk slowly, and in cafés and homes all over the country.
Bosnian coffee is made a little differently from Turkish coffee: some of the boiling water is set aside, then added back with the coffee and brought to the boil again.
Bread
Fried dough puffs
uštipci
All of the country
Soft, bread-like balls of fried dough, served savoury with kajmak or cheese for breakfast, or sweet with jam or icing sugar.
The name comes from the verb 'uštinuti', meaning 'to nip' or 'to pinch'.
Table manners
- Guests visiting a home are almost always offered coffee, together with something sweet made at home.
- Bread is served with nearly every savoury meal.
- Pork is not eaten by many Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, so beef, lamb and chicken are the most common meats. Ask before offering pork to a guest.
- When glasses are raised, people say 'Živjeli!' (cheers).
- Drinking coffee together is a daily custom and an important part of any social visit.
- During Ramadan, restaurants may separate guests who are eating during fasting hours from other guests, so be discreet.
Cities
12 cities to know
Bosnia and Herzegovina's towns grew up along its rivers: Sarajevo on the Miljacka, Banja Luka on the Vrbas, Mostar on the Neretva and Višegrad on the Drina. Many have an old Ottoman bazaar at their heart, Austro-Hungarian buildings around it and mountains all around.
Sarajevo Capital
Sarajevo Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The capital and largest city, with about 275,000 people within its city limits, in a valley ringed by mountains along the Miljacka river. It grew as an Ottoman town in the 15th century. A mosque, a Catholic church, an Orthodox church and a synagogue stand within the same neighbourhood, which is why it is sometimes called the 'Jerusalem of Europe'.
- Baščaršija, the old bazaar
- The 1984 Winter Olympics
- The Sarajevo Film Festival
Banja Luka
Republika Srpska
The second-largest city in the country and the largest in Republika Srpska, of which it is the main political and administrative centre. It lies on the Vrbas river in the green, forested region of Bosanska Krajina in the north-west.
- The Vrbas river
- Banja Luka ćevapi, joined in a square
- A UNESCO City of Music since 2023
Mostar
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The historical capital of Herzegovina, on the green Neretva river. It is named after the mostari, the bridge keepers who guarded its famous Old Bridge in Ottoman times.
- The Old Bridge, Stari Most
- Divers leaping from the bridge
- Herzegovinian wines
Tuzla
Tuzla Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The third-largest city and the centre of north-east Bosnia, built over salt deposits left by an ancient sea. It is known for keeping its mixed population of Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and others.
- Salt lakes in the city centre
- Its two universities
- Industry and salt
Zenica
Zenica-Doboj Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
An industrial city in the valley of the Bosna river, about 70 km north of Sarajevo. Its name was first mentioned in the early 15th century, and it grew fast in the 20th century around its ironworks.
- The Zenica ironworks
- Vranduk, a castle of the Bosnian kings, nearby
- Its university
Bihać
Una-Sana Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
A town on the banks of the Una river in the far north-west, close to the border with Croatia. It was first mentioned in 1260 in a charter of the Hungarian king Béla IV.
- The clear Una river
- Una National Park
- Preminger beer
Travnik
Central Bosnia Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
A town about 90 km west of Sarajevo that was the seat of the Ottoman governors, the viziers, of Bosnia from 1699 to 1850. The Nobel Prize-winning writer Ivo Andrić was born here.
- Vlašić cheese and kajmak
- The birthplace of Ivo Andrić
- Vlašić mountain
Jajce
Central Bosnia Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
A small walled town where the Pliva river tumbles into the Vrbas. It was the last residence of Stjepan Tomašević, the last king of Bosnia, and in November 1943 it hosted the wartime council that planned a federal Yugoslavia.
- The Pliva Waterfall
- Its hilltop fortress
- A Roman temple to the god Mithras
Višegrad
Republika Srpska
A small town in the east, where the Rzav river joins the Drina. Its Ottoman bridge became world famous through Ivo Andrić's novel The Bridge on the Drina.
- The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
- The novel The Bridge on the Drina
- Andrićgrad, a tourist quarter named after Andrić
Trebinje
Republika Srpska
The southernmost city in the country, on the Trebišnjica river in East Herzegovina. Its small walled old town dates from the 18th-century Ottoman period.
- The Arslanagić Bridge
- The walled old town
- Tvrdoš Monastery, founded around 1500
Brčko
Brčko District
A town on the Sava river, facing Croatia across the water. It is the seat of the Brčko District, which formally belongs to both entities but governs itself.
- The self-governing Brčko District
- The Sava river
- A mixed population
Neum
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The only town on Bosnia and Herzegovina's 20 km of Adriatic coast, and the country's only access to the sea. It looks out over the Klek and Pelješac peninsulas, which belong to Croatia.
- The country's only seaside town
- Beach holidays
- Views of the Klek and Pelješac peninsulas
Landmarks
Places everyone should see once
Mostar
The Old Bridge of Mostar
A single, hump-backed stone arch 30 metres long, rising 24 metres above the Neretva. It was built by the Ottomans and finished in the 1560s, destroyed in 1993 during the war, and carefully rebuilt using stones from local quarries. It reopened in 2004, and the Old Bridge area was listed by UNESCO in 2005.
UNESCO World Heritage
Višegrad
The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
An elegant bridge of 11 stone arches, about 180 metres long, over the Drina at Višegrad. It was completed in 1577 by Mimar Sinan, the greatest Ottoman architect, and was listed by UNESCO in 2007.
UNESCO World Heritage
Sarajevo
Baščaršija
Sarajevo's old bazaar, founded in the 15th century, a maze of small shops, cafés and old Ottoman buildings, and today the city's main visitor attraction. At its heart stands the Sebilj, a wooden fountain; local legend says that whoever drinks from it will one day return to Sarajevo. Nearby is the 16th-century Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque.
Sarajevo
The Latin Bridge
A small Ottoman stone bridge over the Miljacka river. At its northern end, on 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, the event that led to the First World War.
Sarajevo
The Tunnel of Hope
During the siege of Sarajevo, a tunnel was dug by hand under the airport runway in 1993 to link the city with the outside world. Food, aid and people passed through it. Today a family house at one end is a museum, and visitors can walk a short stretch of about 20 metres.
Near Mostar
The Radimlja stećci
A field of 133 carved medieval tombstones, called stećci, 3 km west of the town of Stolac. Many are decorated with carvings. It is part of the Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards, listed by UNESCO in 2016 together with sites in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
UNESCO World Heritage
Near Mostar
Kravica Waterfall
A wide curtain of cascades, about 25 metres high, on the Trebižat river, some 40 km south of Mostar. In summer people swim and picnic in the green lake below the falls.
Jajce
The Pliva Waterfall and Jajce
Right in the town of Jajce, the Pliva river drops about 22 metres into the Vrbas, below the walls of the old royal town. Jajce and its waterfall are on UNESCO's tentative list, a step before possible World Heritage status.
Near Trebinje
Vjetrenica Cave
The largest cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Popovo Polje karst plain of East Herzegovina. More than 7 km of passages have been explored, and it is home to an extraordinary number of underground animals, many found nowhere else. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2024.
UNESCO World Heritage
Near Bihać
Una National Park
The country's largest national park, founded in 2008 to protect the clear Una river and its tributaries, the Krka and the Unac. Its most famous sight is Štrbački buk, the largest waterfall on the Una.
Fun facts
Things you might not know
- 01
Bosnia and Herzegovina has only about 20 km of coastline, all of it around the town of Neum. The strip of land dates back to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, when the Republic of Dubrovnik gave it to the Ottomans as a buffer against Venice.
- 02
Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Games held in a Slavic-speaking country. The host nation, Yugoslavia, won its first ever Winter Olympic medal there, a silver in the giant slalom.
- 03
The name Herzegovina comes from 'herceg', a local form of the German word Herzog, meaning duke. It was the title taken in 1448 by the nobleman Stjepan Vukčić Kosača.
- 04
The country's currency, the convertible mark, was named after the old German Deutsche Mark, to which it was tied one to one. The 10, 20, 50 and 100 KM notes come in two designs, one for each entity, and both are valid everywhere.
- 05
The Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illustrated Jewish book for the Passover meal, was made in northern Spain around 1350. It is kept in the National Museum in Sarajevo and was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 2017.
- 06
The writer Ivo Andrić, born in Travnik in 1892, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. He grew up in Višegrad, and his best-known novel, The Bridge on the Drina, is named after the town's Ottoman bridge.
- 07
Young men of Mostar have long leapt from the Old Bridge into the cold Neretva, 24 metres below. A formal diving competition has been held every summer since 1968, and since 2015 the bridge has been a stop on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.
- 08
As of 2026, Vjetrenica Cave in Herzegovina is considered the richest cave in the world for underground wildlife. More than 200 species have been recorded in it, and about 37 were described for the first time there.
- 09
Tuzla has salt lakes in the middle of the city. The first, the Pannonian Lake, opened in 2003 and is filled with salt water from deep underground, a trace of an ancient sea that dried up millions of years ago.
- 10
Sarajevo's trams began on New Year's Day in 1885, pulled by horses. The line was a testing ground for trams in Vienna and the rest of Austria-Hungary, and electric trams followed in 1895.
- 11
About 60,000 medieval carved tombstones called stećci are found in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were used by Catholic, Orthodox and Bosnian Church believers alike, from the 12th to the early 16th century.
- 12
The Sarajevo Film Festival was first held in the autumn of 1995, while the city was still under siege. About 15,000 people came to see 37 films. As of 2026, it is the best-known film festival in South-East Europe, with more than 100,000 visitors a year.
- 13
The Charter of Ban Kulin, written in 1189, is known as the oldest work written in the old Bosnian Cyrillic script, called bosančica.
Bosnian words
21 words to start with
Pronunciation is written the way it sounds; the capital letters show where the stress goes. Audio is coming soon.
Basics
- daDAHyes
- neNEHno
- hvalaHVAH-lahthank you
- molimMOH-leemplease
- zdravoZDRAH-vohhello (informal)
Food and drink
- hljebHLYEHBbread
- vodaVOH-dahwater
- kahvaKAH-vahcoffee (the Bosnian word)
- sirSEERcheese
- ribaREE-bahfish
Getting around
- autobusOW-toh-boosbus
- vozVOHZtrain
- tramvajTRAHM-vaitram
- lijevoLYEH-vohleft
- desnoDEHS-nohright
Places
- mostMOHSTbridge
- čaršijaCHAHR-shee-yahmarket, bazaar (old town centre)
Shopping
- jeftinoYEHF-tee-nohcheap
- skupoSKOO-pohexpensive
Time
- danasDAH-nahstoday
- sutraSOO-trahtomorrow
Say it like a local
Useful phrases
Dobro jutro
DOH-broh YOO-troh
Good morning
Greeting someone in the morning
Dobar dan
DOH-bahr DAHN
Good day, hello
The polite greeting for most of the day, in shops and with strangers
Merhaba
MEHR-hah-bah
Hello
A friendly greeting from Turkish, heard mostly among Bosnian Muslims
Laku noć
LAH-koo NOHCH
Good night
Saying goodbye late in the evening or before bed
Do viđenja
doh vee-JEH-nyah
Goodbye
Leaving a shop, a restaurant or people you don't know well
Kako ste?
KAH-koh steh
How are you? (polite)
Asking an older person or a stranger how they are
Dobro sam, hvala
DOH-broh sahm, HVAH-lah
I'm fine, thank you
Answering 'How are you?'
Drago mi je
DRAH-goh mee yeh
Nice to meet you
Meeting someone for the first time
Hvala lijepo
HVAH-lah LYEH-poh
Thank you very much
Thanking someone warmly
Nema na čemu
NEH-mah nah CHEH-moo
You're welcome
Answering when someone thanks you
Oprostite
oh-PROHS-tee-teh
Excuse me
Getting someone's attention, or getting past people
Da li govorite engleski?
dah lee GOH-voh-ree-teh EHN-glehs-kee
Do you speak English?
Before asking for help
Ne razumijem
neh rah-ZOO-myehm
I don't understand
When you can't follow what someone says
Koliko je ovo?
KOH-lee-koh yeh OH-voh
How much is this?
Shopping at a market or in a shop
Gdje je bankomat?
GDYEH yeh BAHN-koh-maht
Where is a cash machine?
Looking for an ATM
Gdje je WC?
GDYEH yeh VEH-tseh
Where is the toilet?
Looking for the toilet
Bilo je ukusno
BEE-loh yeh OO-koos-noh
It was delicious
Thanking the cook or the waiter
Račun, molim
RAH-choon, MOH-leem
The bill, please
Asking for the bill in a restaurant or café
Živjeli!
ZHEE-vyeh-lee
Cheers!
Raising a glass for a toast
Local tips
Before you go
Carry some marks in cash
Prices are in convertible marks (KM), fixed at 1.95583 marks to the euro. Cards are not accepted everywhere, so carry cash, and avoid paying small shops with 100 or 200 KM notes. Euro cash in small notes is often accepted. Change leftover marks before you leave, as they are hard to exchange abroad.
Stay on paths in the countryside
Landmines and unexploded weapons from the 1992 to 1995 war remain in some rural areas. Towns and main roads are largely clear, but do not step off roads, paved areas and marked paths without an experienced guide, keep away from abandoned buildings, and never touch an unknown object.
Your stay must be registered
All foreign visitors must be registered with the police within 72 hours of arrival. Hotels usually do this for you; if you stay privately, check that your host has arranged it.
Emergency numbers
The emergency numbers are 122 for police, 123 for fire and 124 for an ambulance. The European number 112 also works.
Two alphabets
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are easy for each other's speakers to understand. Serbian is written in both Cyrillic and Latin letters, so in Republika Srpska many signs are in Cyrillic, while Latin letters are more common in the Federation.
Winter driving
From November to April, cars must have winter tyres and carry snow chains, to be used when signs say so. Roads through the mountains are slow and winding, so allow plenty of time.
Speak gently about the war
The war of the 1990s still touches many families. Listen if people want to talk about it, but avoid debating it or other political questions, and show respect for all three communities and their places of worship.
Smoke in cafés
Smoking is common in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The rules on smoking indoors differ between the entities and are not always followed, so some cafés and bars can be smoky. If smoke bothers you, sit outside or ask for a non-smoking area.
Sources (79)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (Wikipedia)
- Maglić (mountain) (Wikipedia)
- Drina (Wikipedia)
- Bosna (river) (Wikipedia)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark (Wikipedia)
- Left- and right-hand traffic (Wikipedia)
- Bosnian language (Wikipedia)
- Brčko District (Wikipedia)
- Charter of Ban Kulin (Wikipedia)
- Tvrtko I of Bosnia (Wikipedia)
- Kingdom of Bosnia (Wikipedia)
- Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge (Wikipedia)
- Latin Bridge (Wikipedia)
- State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Wikipedia)
- 1984 Winter Olympics (Wikipedia)
- Bosnian War (Wikipedia)
- Siege of Sarajevo (Wikipedia)
- Srebrenica massacre (Wikipedia)
- ICTY (UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia): Krstić case
- International Court of Justice: Application of the Genocide Convention (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro)
- Croat–Bosniak War (Wikipedia)
- Sava (Wikipedia)
- Tvrdoš Monastery (Wikipedia)
- List of smoking bans (Wikipedia)
- Dayton Agreement (Wikipedia)
- Stari Most (Wikipedia)
- Accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union (Wikipedia)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina cuisine (Wikipedia)
- Ćevapi (Wikipedia)
- Börek, or burek (Wikipedia)
- Savory spinach pie, or zeljanica (Wikipedia)
- Begova čorba, or Bey's soup (Wikipedia)
- Dolma, including sogan-dolma (Wikipedia)
- Stuffed leaves, or sarma (Wikipedia)
- Tufahije (Wikipedia)
- Baklava (Wikipedia)
- Kalburabastı, or hurmašice (Wikipedia)
- Turkish coffee, and Bosnian coffee (Wikipedia)
- Pita, and somun (Wikipedia)
- Kaymak, or kajmak (Wikipedia)
- Vlašić cheese (Wikipedia)
- Uštipci (Wikipedia)
- Rakia (Wikipedia)
- živjeli (Wiktionary)
- kahva (Wiktionary)
- merhaba (Wiktionary)
- Sarajevo (Wikipedia)
- Banja Luka (Wikipedia)
- Mostar (Wikipedia)
- Tuzla (Wikipedia)
- Zenica (Wikipedia)
- Bihać (Wikipedia)
- Travnik (Wikipedia)
- Jajce (Wikipedia)
- Višegrad (Wikipedia)
- Trebinje (Wikipedia)
- Brčko (Wikipedia)
- Neum (Wikipedia)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Baščaršija (Wikipedia)
- Sebilj in Sarajevo (Wikipedia)
- Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (Wikipedia)
- Sarajevo Tunnel (Wikipedia)
- Stećak (Wikipedia)
- Stećak necropolis Radimlja (Wikipedia)
- Kravica (waterfall) (Wikipedia)
- Pliva Waterfall (Wikipedia)
- Walled city of Jajce (Wikipedia)
- Vjetrenica Cave (Wikipedia)
- Una National Park (Wikipedia)
- Sarajevo Haggadah (Wikipedia)
- Ivo Andrić (Wikipedia)
- Trams in Sarajevo (Wikipedia)
- Sarajevo Film Festival (Wikipedia)
- Bosnian phrasebook (Wikivoyage)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (Wikivoyage)
- GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Bosnia and Herzegovina, safety and security
- GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Bosnia and Herzegovina, entry requirements
- GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Bosnia and Herzegovina, getting help
