During my stay in Dubrovnik, I took a little detour and went on a day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dubrovnik is an excellent base to explore the surroundings. It is close and straightforward to head to Bosnia and Montenegro. You will need a car to do so or you can join those tours. I would prefer to have a car. It is a lot more convenient and you can stop anytime you want on your drive. Mostar is a super popular spot for day trips and it have been long on my list. It is known for the iconic picture of the old bridge over the river and daredevils doing jumps into the river.

Driving into Bosnia and Herzegovina

Crossing Custom but Bosnia version? I did it. I have to say that this is the first time I am driving over a land border beside the Singapore-JB border. I’m not going to lie, I was quite excited about this. There are a couple of land border checkpoints between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We asked around and took the one near Metković. This is the only part of our road trip that we had a little jam. It was very smooth otherwise. Traffic can be really bad at this time of the year. We were considering to go Montenegro but everyone just advised against it.

Going through the land border was smooth and easy. It is the same as what we do here for JB. There aren’t any tolls to pay. Simply drive up to exit the EU border here first then drive to Bosnia border. They even had priority lines for EU passport holders. We waited in line for about 30 minutes or so. The drive was quite lovely and scenic.

It is rather different to Croatia. Roads were fine and it is easy to navigate using Google Maps. We didn’t pump any petrol in Bosnia. On the way back into Croatia, surprising there wasn’t any exit border for Bosnia and at the Croatia checkpoint they simply asked us if we bought anything or have anything to declare.

Mostar

Neum

Conclusion

It was a rather refreshing experience and I would always love an opportunity to visit a new country. This will also allow me to add it to my list of countries that I have been to. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a nice place to visit and it is rather different from Croatia. The near distance makes it rather nice for you to embark on a day tour. Do remember to check if you are allowed to drive your rental car into Bosnia. Visiting Mostar is on my bucket list. It is touristy but still worth a view if you have the opportunity to do so. Bosnia is very affordable compared to Croatia. We managed to get through without having any local currency. Most places accept Euros.