Practical details
Bosnia and Herzegovina sits on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, bordered by Croatia to the north and west, Serbia to the east and Montenegro to the southeast, with a narrow strip of Adriatic coastline of about 20 kilometres around the town of Neum. Much of the interior is dominated by the mountainous Dinaric Alps; the Herzegovina region has a drier Mediterranean climate and pronounced karst terrain, while the Sava River marks the northern border with Croatia and the Neretva, the only major river flowing to the Adriatic, cuts through the city of Mostar. After early Illyrian and Celtic settlement, an independent medieval Bosnian kingdom emerged before the Ottoman conquest in the mid-15th century brought centuries of Ottoman rule; Austro-Hungarian administration followed from 1878, and the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo helped trigger the First World War. After the Yugoslav era, the country declared independence in 1992, and the 1995 Dayton Agreement established today's state structure. In the capital, Sarajevo, the Ottoman-era Baščaršija bazaar and the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque stand out, while Mostar's Stari Most (Old Bridge), built in 1566, destroyed in the war and rebuilt by 2004, is the country's best-known landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the medieval Stećci tombstones are also UNESCO-listed. Cuisine bearing clear Ottoman influence includes ćevapi, burek and Bosnian coffee. Under a continental climate, summers are warm and winters snowy; mountain resorts such as Jahorina and Bjelašnica suit winter sports, while spring and autumn are better for city travel. The currency is the convertible mark (BAM/KM), and the official languages are Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. That said, current opening hours, prices, visa and transport details are not written without sourced verification; where details are missing, we honestly say we don't know. (Source: Wikipedia, Wikivoyage)
