Things to do in Mostar: The Best day trip from croatia
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When we started planning this road trip, it was quickly brought to our attention that Croatia is one of the very few countries in the world that has a section that is completely separate from the rest of it! Of course, the United States is one of those countries, but I just never realized that Croatia was broken up as well.
Now you can either simply drive on the small stretch of highway from Split to Dubrovnik, or you can buy a “green card” when you first pick up your rental car that will enable you to take it further into neighboring countries.
In my brain, if we were going to have to drive through Bosnia to get from one point to another, I thought we might as well make a day out of it! As it turns out, our short day exploring the top things to do in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina was one of the most memorable days of our entire Balkans road trip. Let me tell you how to incorporate a day in this amazing town into your itinerary!
Things to do in Mostar
We arrived into town fairly late in the morning, and promptly found a large parking lot that a lot of the tour buses were also parking in. It did cost to park there, but not anything too crazy.
Mostar is the junction of two different religions: Islam and Christianity, and it is very interesting to see the division in the city. All the churches reside on one side of the river, while all the mosques can be found once you cross the bridge.
Read more: The Ultimate Croatia Road Trip Itinerary
Immediately, when you start walking further into town, you will be bombarded by all the different shops and stalls that are selling souvenirs. Beautiful lanterns, Turkish coffee sets, and jewelry adorned with the evil eye as well as Gucci knock-offs can all be bought here! You can easily wander these Bazaars all day, as they continue all throughout both sides of the city.
One of the absolute top things to do in Mostar, of course, is make a b-line to Stari Most, or the old bridge. This is iconic, arched bridge you’ll see in all pictures of Mostar! It has been destroyed a few times in the past, but it has been rebuilt and is more beautiful than ever. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see some of the divers jump off the top! They generally wait for midday, when the crowds are the largest, and ask for donations. It is their job after all, so they won’t jump until the money in the pot is sufficient. We got faked out quite a few times, so maybe camp out at the base of the bridge to take a break from walking and to ensure that you’ll see the spectacle at least once!
Before leaving for this trip, my family watched world-wide dive championships that took place in Mostar! They set up a dive platform on the bridge, and we watched the divers throw themselves fearlessly off the bridge, spinning and flipping before hitting the water. It was incredible.
What was even more incredible was what we realized when we arrived. The bridge is SO. HIGH. Like, so high. For example, the highest Olympic diving platform is 10 meters. Stari Most is 23 meters. It is more than double the height that most people consider Olympic diving. What’s crazier is that if you happen to be staying overnight in Mostar, you can ask one of the local divers to teach you how to execute the jump without hurting yourself. We saw one tourist practicing on the smaller platforms before advancing to the old bridge. His landing looked mildly painful but if I had the time I would ABSOLUTELY give it a go. You do have to pay them for their time but can you imagine what a story that would make? Ugh. Incredible.
After wandering to the other side of the bridge, I was determined to find a specific vantage point to take pictures. Most of the tourists congregate at the base of the left side of the bridge, but I wanted to get to the right. If you cross the bridge and immediately make a right, and just keep following roads and small paths that look like they’re taking you closer to the river, then you will eventually find it! It takes a little bit of clambering over rocks but we made it, and we had the whole spot to ourselves.
Well, almost to ourselves. We met an expat sitting under a rock over-hang who was there working in a hostel, and we got an EXCELLENT lunch recommendation from her.
Want to stay in Mostar longer? Find Hotels in Mostar
(Sorry for all the pictures of me though omg I need to work on taking more pictures that apply to everyone, my apologies)
If you happen to end up in Mostar, eating at Tima-Irma is an essential. It is easily the best place to eat in Mostar. While it doesn’t have a view of the river or the bridge, the quality of the food makes up for it a thousand times over. The owner, Irma, was the absolute kindest. She talked with us for nearly 30 minutes about her love affair with the United States and got us to tell her the newest Starbucks drinks so she could relay the information to her daughter. We weren’t quite sure what to order so we placed it fully in her hands and were NOT disappointed. she came back out with the largest, most decadent platter of food for my family to share. We finished the whole dang thing. So many different types of meat and cheese and sauce… WOW my mouth is watering. Definitely one of the top things to do if you’re only in Mostar for a day.
Read more: Things to do in Dubrovnik
After DEVOURING the entire platter, we decided to explore more of the Muslim side of the city. We wandered around for a bit before eventually finding our way to the Koskin-Mehmed Mosque. This is the one that you can see most prominently in pictures taken from the old bridge, and with its tall minaret, it’s hard to miss. It costs a few Kunas to enter, but the views from the top are WELL worth it.
I must say, however, if you are claustrophobic, maybe give this one a pass. The spiral staircase is extremely narrow and straight up, it took what felt like 10 whole minutes for my brother and I to reach the top. Once you are at the top, theres is extremely limited space. Fortunately, we had the minaret completely to ourselves, but I can’t imagine how it would function if there were more than 10 people up there at once. (In the picture below it is the mosque with the blue roof! Super easy to locate).
Balling on a budget? Find Hostels in Mostar
After descending out of the minaret and rejoining my family, we backtracked through all the open air markets, bought some jewelry, eyed some expensive Turkish coffee sets, realized we didn’t know how to make Turkish coffee, and promptly set out to find a, you guessed it, Turkish coffee shop.
Thankfully, a quick google search led us to Cafe de Alma, where they not only serve incredible juices and snacks, but roast their own coffee beans as well. My family all ordered the traditional Bosnian/Turkish coffee, and my mom, who isn’t a coffee drinker, ordered an elderflower lemonade which was to die for. The kindest employee came out with our orders and explained to us exactly how to make our coffee, as there were quite a few steps. The coffee was delightful, the small piece of Turkish delight that came with it was delightful, the whole experience was truly delightful. 10/10.
Read More: Things to do in Split
Cafe de Alma is the perfect last stop in Mostar, it definitely gave us the rest and energy we needed to continue the drive to our next stop: Dubrovnik!
Although there wasn’t much more that we were able to do in the time that we had (I would’ve loved to see the Museum of War and Genocide, but I’m not quite sure the rest of my family was as on board with that as I was), but we stalled our departure for quite a while. We loved this city so much, there are so many things to do in Mostar! Eventually we said a reluctant goodbye, satisfied that we had completed the top things to do in Mostar. and headed back to the car, exhausted from a full day of seeing beautiful things and eating amazing food but excited to finally arrive in Dubrovnik.
Stay tuned for our last stop in Croatia!
Xx
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