Trips With Kids

Guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina with kids

We heard the roar of the water before we saw anything, and when we came out from behind the hillside, the kids stopped dead in their tracks. The Kravica Waterfalls in the middle of an August heatwave were the best stop of the day: the water was maybe 16 degrees, so you either jump straight in or stay on the shore. We went in.

We visited Bosnia and Herzegovina twice during one Balkan road trip in summer 2017. On the way south we saw the waterfall and the little wooden mills in Jajce and the Olympic bobsleigh track in Sarajevo, and we slept by Pliva Lake and by the Tara River. On the way back from Montenegro we stopped at the Kravica Waterfalls. You can watch each of these days on our Bałkany 2017 playlist, and our other trips on our YouTube channel.

Bosnia and Herzegovina with kids is above all about water: clear lakes, rivers and waterfalls where you can swim, and calm people who never seem to be in a hurry. The whole route through seven countries is in Balkans 2017 - a road trip with kids through seven countries, and below you will find everything about Bosnia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina with kids at a glance

  • Our trip: 31 July to 2 August 2017 on the way south and 13 August on the way back, as part of a three-week Balkan road trip (about 5,000 km).
  • How we got there: by car from Poland through the Czech Republic and Hungary, into Croatia at Barcs and into Bosnia over the bridge on the Sava River at Stara Gradiška. From Lake Balaton to Jajce it was 274 km and 5 hours, with the last stretch through the Vrbas river canyon after Banja Luka (Jajce).
  • Where we stayed: Autocamp Plivsko Jezero in Jajce and a campsite by the Tara River, a base for rafting trips.
  • Kids: we travelled with our four children, and the youngest was just over a year old.
  • How much time to plan: we fitted Jajce and Sarajevo into two days, and a few hours are enough for Kravica on the way from the coast.

Practical info

Documents for kids

  • EU and Schengen citizens can enter Bosnia and Herzegovina with a passport or a national ID card and stay without a visa for up to 90 days within six months (as of November 2026).
  • Every child needs their own passport or ID card (as of November 2026).
  • A child under 14 with their own travel document can cross the border with one or both parents. If the child travels with anyone else, that person needs a signed and notarised consent letter from the parents (as of November 2026).
  • The border with Croatia is an external Schengen border, so documents are checked, but EU citizens are not registered in the Entry/Exit System (EES) (as of November 2026). In 2017 there was a queue before the bridge at Stara Gradiška.

Currency

Bosnia and Herzegovina uses the convertible mark (KM, BAM), which is fixed to the euro: 1 EUR is 1.95583 KM. We took marks out of an ATM in Laktaši just after the border, and entry to Kravica cost us a few marks per person.

Car and road tolls

  • Cars registered in the EU are covered by their home motor insurance, so you don't need a Green Card (as of November 2026).
  • Small tolls are paid at booths on a few sections: Svilaj - Odžak, Sarajevo Sjever - Zenica Jug, Sarajevo Zapad - Tarčin and Međugorje - Ljubuški. You can pay in euros or marks (as of November 2026).
  • When you stop, do not walk off the road onto the verge or into the woods, because there are still landmines left from the war. Some of these areas are marked with red "PAZI MINE" signs.
  • Roads are narrow but usually in good condition, and many mountain tunnels have no lights.
  • In Sarajevo, don't trust your sat nav blindly: a shortcut through narrow residential streets turned into a squeeze of a few centimetres for our van, which is over 5 metres long (Sarajevo).

When to visit Bosnia with kids

We were in Bosnia at the turn of July and August and again in mid-August. In mid-August it was very hot, and Herzegovina around Mostar is one of the hottest corners of the Balkans, so we had one plan: find water. Get to Kravica in the morning, because in the afternoon the car park and the path down get crowded.

Best places in Bosnia and Herzegovina for kids

Jajce and around

The waterfall in Jajce

The Pliva River drops 22 metres right in the centre of the town, and this is the view you see on postcards from Bosnia. You need a ticket for the viewing terrace at the foot of the falls, and parking is paid at machines. Read about it in Jajce.

The little wooden mills (Mlinčići)

Between the Great and Small Pliva Lakes stand about 20 tiny wooden watermills connected by a boardwalk. Entry is free, and the kids wanted to look inside every single one. Watch our video from the mills. Read more in Jajce.

Kupaliste Brana and the Plivsko Jezero campsite

We slept by a lake so clear that we had probably never seen water like it before. The campsite owner sent us to a swimming spot by a dam on the river, and we spent the whole morning there, which we show in our video from Kupaliste Brana. See Jajce.

Sarajevo

The Olympic bobsleigh track on Mount Trebević

The concrete track from the 1984 Winter Olympics stands abandoned on the slopes of Mount Trebević. In summer, with no sledges, we had our own bobsleigh race by running down the track. Since 2018 the cable car from the Bistrik district has been running again, and its top station is close to the track. Read about it in Sarajevo.

Herzegovina

Kravica Waterfalls

The Trebižat River falls about 25 metres along a front almost 120 metres wide, forming a natural amphitheatre of travertine. By the falls it is a few degrees cooler than at the top, and the kids did not want to get out of the water. The falls are about 40 km from Mostar. Read more in Kravica Waterfalls - cooling off in the heart of scorching Bosnia.

All posts: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Last updated: November 2026