Bosnia and Herzegovina

There is an official Bosnia and Herzegovina Rock Climbing Guidebook updated in 2024 – if it had been possible to extend our time in B&H (beyond the measly one day) we would absolutely have gotten our hands on this. Rebro crag itself had route lists posted but not sure how permanent that is.

Facebook group useful for the latest and asking questions.

The Crag – always worth a look for any useful comments, latest logs etc.

I always find the country summaries on Climb Europe helpful – the Bosnia and Herzegovina page is no exception. Our crag was in the Blagaj region but the page gives a brief overview of the other areas that look diverse and exciting to explore (kid-friendliness unknown!)

The Crag Journal has a nice write-up of their exploration of B&H climbing including beyond Blagaj (sans children)

Check out this very cool youtube video of climbing with kids in B&H in Blagaj by Wild Adventure Film

Roads

• The ones we travelled were in overall good condition. We do understand it can be variable so very much worth taking local advice – during October 2024 when we were there, significant rainfall caused devastating floods and landslides between Mostar and Sarajevo and it was thanks to local knowledge that we knew to change course.
• B&H was the only country where we were not able to pre-purchase car insurance. This meant that we had to buy a ‘Green Card’ from one of the random little offices after the border crossing.

Camping – park4night was (as always) our go-to resource – free camping did not seem as prevalent/common as other countries but we found wonderful homely camp-spots that were very good value and went above and beyond to be welcoming and provide good services. It felt like an effective way to give-back to the local economy and small family-owned businesses.

• We entered B&H from Croatia at the Nova Sela/Bijača border crossing near the Kravica waterfall, a popular daytrip.
• We made a stop at the historical village of Počitelj which was a wonderful place to explore and spend the day.
• Our single crag day was at Blagaj which has a couple of other sites worth visiting: the Dervish Monastery ‘Tekija Blagaj’ which is much photographed but still worth a look. Also the Blagaj fortress which is much less visited but offers beautiful views especially at sunset (the parking spot is also where you want to park to get the easiest approach to Rebro crag).
• Near visited Mostar and it was worth navigating the touristy bottleneck at the bridge to explore the streets and duck into museums telling the story of B&H’s history, the war and the recovery.
• We had planned to continue north to Sarajevo but due to floods/landslides we headed south-east from Mostar and entered Montenegro earlier than planned. We made a stop at Stolac which had a lovely relaxed, riverside vibe – situated in a verdent valley the area has been settled for at least 15,000 years.