Mostar is a walking city. The Old Town is pedestrian, the main sights are a few minutes apart, and the streets around the bridge are too steep and narrow for cars anyway. You can walk it alone with the routes below, or join a local guide for the history behind each stop. Before you set out Shoes: the paving around Stari Most is made of rounded river stones polished by centuries of feet.

Mostar’s sights cluster around one bridge and two banks of the Neretva, with the Austro-Hungarian quarter a short walk west. Most can be seen in a long day; two days lets you go slowly and add the war-history sites. Small fees are paid in convertible marks (KM), usually in cash. Stari Most The Old Bridge was completed in 1566 for Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent by the architect Mimar Hayruddin. It stood for 427 years until Bosnian Croat (HVO) forces shelled and destroyed it on 9 November 1993.

Mostar is at its most romantic after the day-trip coaches leave. By evening the bridge empties, the Old Town lights come on and the river is the loudest thing in the valley. A weekend gives you two evenings, a slow morning and time for a trip out to a spring, a vineyard or a waterfall. Money is in convertible marks (KM). The bridge at dusk Stari Most, first built in 1566, rebuilt after the war and reopened in 2004, is free to cross at any hour.

Mostar rewards an overnight stay. The coach tours from the coast leave by late afternoon, and the city is quieter in the evening and early morning. With two or three nights you can add the best of Herzegovina, and with more you can link Mostar to Sarajevo or the Adriatic. Prices are in convertible marks (KM). Two nights: Mostar and the classic loop Day 1: the Old Town. Cross Stari Most, visit the Old Bridge Museum in the Tara Tower (about 10 KM), climb the minaret of the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque, and look at the Bišćević and Kajtaz houses.

Mostar works well for families who like short walks and big views. The Old Town is compact, the bridge divers give children something to wait for, and the best outings are less than an hour away. The two things to plan around are the slippery stone streets and the summer heat. Money is in convertible marks (KM). Bridge divers and the riverbank Children love watching the divers of the Mostari Diving Club drop from Stari Most, about 20 m above the river, once the crowd has paid enough.

Mostar makes a good base for Herzegovina. Most of the classic trips are within 40 km, and a few are reachable on the city’s own buses. Below, each trip has a distance, a way to get there and what it costs where the price is known. Money is in convertible marks (KM). Blagaj (12 km, half day) The dervish house (tekke) at Blagaj sits at the foot of a cliff, beside the cave where the Buna river comes out of the ground.

Mostar is small enough to explore alone, but a guide adds a lot here. The city’s story runs from the Ottoman bridge builders to the war of the 1990s, and local guides tell both. Beyond the city, a single day tour can link three sights that are awkward to reach by bus. Prices are in convertible marks (KM) unless a tour is sold in euros. Old Town walking tours Several local guides run tip-based walking tours of the Old Town, usually about two and a half hours.

Mostar sits in the Neretva valley in Herzegovina, and most of what visitors do here happens within a short walk of Stari Most, the Old Bridge. A few of the best days out are further afield: the waterfalls at Kravica, the rapids near Konjic and the wine villages around Čitluk. Prices below are in convertible marks (KM, also written BAM), fixed at 1 euro to 1.95583 KM. Carry KM cash for small museums, mosques and buses.