Mostar is the largest city in Herzegovina and one of the most striking in the Balkans. The old town is built along the emerald-green Neretva River, its Ottoman-era stone houses and mosques climbing the steep banks on either side. At its heart is the Stari Most, the Old Bridge — a single-arch stone span originally built in 1566 by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin, destroyed by shelling in 1993 during the Bosnian War, and painstakingly rebuilt and reopened in 2004. The bridge and the old town around it are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The war left deep scars, and bullet-pocked buildings still stand alongside restored ones. But Mostar has rebuilt with determination, and the old bazaar quarter — the Kujundžiluk, with its cobbled lanes and copper workshops — is alive again. Young men dive from the bridge into the Neretva for tourist tips, continuing a tradition that dates back centuries.
Beyond the old town, the Blagaj tekke, a Dervish monastery built into a cliff face at the source of the Buna River, is one of the most memorable sights in the region and an easy half-day trip from the centre.