DESTINATIONS BOSNIA | GREECE, CYPRUS & BALKANS


beauty s


Crowd-free forests and myth-filled mountains – underrated Bosnia could become Europe’s next big hiking destination, discovers Ally Wybrew


ee there? That’s the dragon’s tail.” I’m squinting at a wet limestone rockface,


1,353 metres up the Bjelašnica mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, using all my imagination to visualise the mythical beast that Samer Hajric, my Exodus Adventure Travels walking guide, assures me is there. “The curves of the Studeni stream were created by the wake of the wyvern’s tail as he fled an imam,” reveals Samer, “before he was turned into stone forever by the imam’s prayers, while he tried to escape up the rockface.” I have to give it to Samer, I can almost see it.


Luckily, I’m all up for myths and legends, and it turns out Bosnia – which was once part of Yugoslavia – has plenty to offer.


travelweekly.co.uk


WAR WOUNDS While neighbouring Croatia and Montenegro have carved a name for themselves as turquoise-coastlined holiday hotspots, Bosnia has struggled to shake off negative connotations of the Bosnian war. “Even now, 30 years after the war ended, when a lot of people think about Bosnia it’s either about the conflict, or they don’t know what’s here,” Samer says as we scale a grassy incline to a mist-shrouded viewpoint. Though the impact of the war is still very much evident – a city tour of Sarajevo during our tour reveals buildings still scarred by bullet holes – the picture is changing. Bosnia has been at peace for three decades, and interest in the region is growing among British travellers: Exodus reports that its Balkans revenue has risen 21% in 2026


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