Jajce, a beautiful city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was our next destination. But first we had to get there… We were at Lake Balaton in Hungary.
Morning
In the morning after waking up, the children shouted that they absolutely had to play in the pool. We agreed. After bathing we ate breakfast, then we went grocery shopping at Lidl in the town of Keszthely. And on the way!
Route to Bosnia and Herzegovina
We had two and a half hours of driving ahead to reach the Hungarian-Croatian border. The route led us through local roads, so we drove quite slowly due to speed limits. We crossed the border in Barcs city. The border crossing was a bridge on the Drawa River. The first passport check of our trip awaited us here, because Croatia was not part of the Schengen zone and you cannot just travel from one country to another.
That day we planned to cross the border twice. The first crossing is behind us, and the next is the Croatian-Bosnian border. We crossed the second border in the town of Stara Gradiska, where the border crossing is on the bridge over the Sawa River. We entered Croatia smoothly, crossing the next border was a bit longer challenge. The bridge was in a traffic jam, which cleared up after the border.
In Laktasi we stopped for a moment to get some local currency from an ATM and prepare for spending in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The currency there is Bosnian Mark (convertible mark) with a rate of approximately 1 KM equal to 0.5 EUR. Our first purchase was fresh fruit from a roadside stall – including a watermelon, which we remembered because of the unique sweetness. We also refueled the car because in Bosnia, fuel is much cheaper than in neighboring countries.
The next town on the route was Banja Luka, and just past it, we entered the Vrbas River canyon. And the breathtaking views began.
The route led downhill, along the river, through a series of sharp bends, sections hollowed out in the rocks. It required concentration, but local drivers drove very boldly. After a while we reached the town of Jajce – the destination of our route that day.
Jajce
There’s a beautiful waterfall on the Pliva River located in Jajce. This place appears on postcards from Bosnia and Herzegovina very often, so it’s no wonder that it attracts crowds of tourists here. Admission to the terrace at the foot of the waterfall is ticketed, and parking is metered. It’s worth seeing in person how the water falls from a height of 22 meters.
After seeing the waterfall we went to the campsite in the same town – Autocamp Plivsko Jezero. The campsite is located next to the crystal-clear lake. We have probably never seen such clean water in a lake before.
We spent the evening at the campsite, where we tried Bosnian cuisine. We were struck by the slow pace of everyone around us. They were in no hurry.
Jajce is also famous for its second attraction — small wooden water mills. We got there the next morning, this time on foot as part of a walk. Visiting the open-air mill museum is free. The tiny houses that hide the mechanisms of the mills are set up on the river, and a bridge stretches between them. The children curiously wanted to peek inside each of them.
The weather was unusually nice, so we decided to use the bathing spot recommended by the campsite owner. We are talking about a dam on the river, which is connected with the bathing beach. This place is called Kupaliste Brana. It’s amazing. We spent the whole morning in the bath. It’s fun when something unplanned sneaks into your trip.
The route in numbers: 274 km, 5h