Dubrovnik to/from Split 3day Transfer Tour via Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mostar and Sarajevo)

Destination: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Accommodation: Hotel Colors inn 4* or similar
Meals Included: B

Morning: Morning drive will take us through interesting areas of West Herzegovina before we hit the first stop at stunning waterfalls of Kravica.

Situated near Ljubuški, Trebižat river with its travertine sedimentations is today offering us unique and breathtaking attraction – Kravica waterfalls.

Height range from 26-28 meters and water amphitheater of 120 meters below, plus surrounding nature of Kravica waterfalls altogether fall into unique geological monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Afternoon:After departing from Kravice waterfalls we will very soon arrive at Počitelj (“Počivati” – Bos.”to rest in peace”).

Nested above Neretva river, this unique, medieval, Ottoman era glorified, present day Ottoman-Mediterranean style “architectured” fortress – town Počitelj, is one of the very few urban ensembles in Bosnia and Herzegovina preserved in their integrity to the present times.

We will take an easy uphill, one hour long walk, accompanied with a stories of town’s development and strategic importance during its 600+ year long written history and visit to most important sites such as Hajji Alija Mosque, Clock Tower and Gavrankapetanovic tower, IS A MUST, for anyone passing through or near Herzegovina region.

Blagaj Dervish House and Lunch Break:Then, we continue through some really amazing parts of the Neretva river canyon, telling the unique stories of Herzegovina, before we arrive at our next stop at Blagaj.

Blagaj town is home to Buna river spring – Europe’s most beautiful, most powerful, clean and drinkable karst river spring, settled beneath a few hundred meters high rock. Water comes out of a quite large but stunningly deep cave, which springs an amazing 43 cubic meters of water per second. Can you imagine this

Just next to the spring, under the rock, is home to Blagaj Tekke – Dervish house, dating most likely pre or early Ottoman era from late 15th century, as a unique sacral-residential example of Islamic architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Visiting this complex and learning more about Dervish life in Herzegovina is an important part of our history, MUST DO.

For Muslim travellers “Tekija” is place where prayers are hosted 5 times a day and can be attended if wanted.

After visiting “Blagajska Tekija” and “Izvor rijeke Bune” we stay there for bit longer. It is time for lunch. Due to famousness and cleanliness of Buna river the most important thing to taste in Blagaj today is local trout.

That is why we don’t leave the place before we offer our guests to try locally prepared trout on “Blagaj Way”, enjoying amazing scenery of Buna river spring and Dervish house next to it. Vegetarians don’t worry, we have solutions for you as well 🙂

>Blagaj River Spring and Dervish House

Afternoon:Once we finish with a visit to amazingly beautiful Blagaj, we will head towards Mostar.

Upon arrival, we’ll start our 2 hour walking tour which will cover most important sites and locations in this, truly unique, small town.

During the walking tour we will focus at Mostar Old Bridge, Old Bazaar and Old Town, but offer stories of Mostar uniqueness, in regard to historical and cultural diversity.

Tour will cover facts about the Old Bridge, it’s rise and fall, and how it had risen again. We learn about Siege of Mostar, its pre and post siege period. You get to know, about why it is called Mostar, about Mostarians. We recreate Mostar for you and with you.

>Mostar old bridge during the sunset

Evening: After an two hour of interesting drive through central Herzegovina regions and canyon of Neretva we will arrive to Konjic where we shall visit the Old Town and Old Bridge, before we arrive to Sarajevo where we will drop you of at your amazing, centrally located hotel to relax and have a free evening so you could gather impressions over dinner and get ready for the next day.

Destination: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Accommodation: Hotel Colors inn 4* or similar
Meals Included: B 

>Sarajevo War Tunnel – dug in 1993 during the Siege of Sarajevo, with purpose to supply city with arms during the 4 year siege.

Activity Note: Today’s itinerary includes walking on uneven terrain, while visiting some of the ruins during our Sarajevo Siege tour. Make sure to have some water with you, and always take attention to the present day weather forecast.

Breakfast: Our well chosen range of hotels in Sarajevo start serving buffet-style breakfast around 7 AM, featuring Bosnian and International options.

Morning: The morning part of the day will start at 10 AM when we plan to set out for the walking tour of the old part and city centre of Sarajevo. Our 2.5/3 hour tour will cover the stories of origins of Sarajevo and the medieval Bosnian Kingdom. We shall visit the Ottoman and Austria-Hungarian parts of Sarajevo, which both with its stunning markets, bazaars, mosques, churches and synagogues will reveal the true nature of the real European Jerusalem. We’ll make sure to visit the Latin Bridge and learn the story about how WWI was triggered right here, in the heart of Sarajevo. Sarajevo’s 1984 Winter Olympics and life during the Siege of Sarajevo will surely be part of our story today.

After the walking you will have some free time to further explore the centre of Sarajevo on your own. You might stay in the Ottoman part of Sarajevo delving into hidden cobblestone streets, discovering the breath of Sarajevo’s mystical past, or alternatively visit Austria-Hungarian part and understand why Sarajevo is a city located on the crossroad of cultures.

>Sarajevo old town – Bačšaršija coppersmith street, famously called Kazandžiluk is the oldest originally preserved street in Sarajevo.

Lunch: Get ready to try the most famous dish of the Balkans, at the most important stop of the Balkans – the glorious Sarajevo’s Ćevapi or Ćevapčići. In Sarajevo, Ćevapi are made of pure beef with basic spices and are hardly to be found of such a quality anywhere in the rest of the Balkans. For vegetarians we have alternatives available where we suggest trying traditional Bosnia “pita” (eng. pie) with cheese, spinach or potatoes. In the Balkans generally this food is referred to as “burek”, but in Sarajevo if you order burek, you will be served with meat pita.

Afternoon: Your afternoon session (starting at 2 PM) is fully reserved for the important story of Siege of Sarajevo, the story of the impossible survival and story of the worst Genocide in Europe since the WWII. Funky Tours Top Experiences aims to deliver a clear and unbiased understanding of the topics we consider important for better overall understanding of the Balkans.

Your host for the afternoon session will be local Sarajevan, an ex Bosnian army soldier who during the 1990ies was directly involved in the resistance organised by the local people of Sarajevo. When joint force of Yugoslavian National Army, Serbian Paramilitaries and local Bosnian Serbs initiated general attack on Bosnia and Herzegovina with goal of taking the control of Bosnian capital, only a few people “got their heads” together and started organising resistance. Resistance which later proved crucial for defending Bosnian independence and saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

Places in focus will be Sarajevo’s infamous Sniper Alley and Hotel Holiday Inn, Sarajevo War Tunnel, Sarajevo Olympic Bobsled and Olympic mountain of Trebević, Jewish cemetery and numerous other locations scattered throughout the Bosnian capital, today serving as the memory of the 1990ies bloody years.

>Sarajevo Olympic Bobsled Track at Trebević mountain built for Sarajevo Winter Olympics 1984. Unfortunately it was destroyed during the Siege of Sarajevo and today serves as great reminder of Sarajevo’s Olympic glory and perfect spot for graffiti art.

The story you will follow will be firsthand experiences of local Sarajevo Siege survivors, backed up with ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) verdicts and official judgements. The Balkans today are place where wars have ended in military way, but wars of denial, especially denial of Genocide and wars of relativisation are still going on. Making sure that the unbiased facts of the 1990ies conflicts are well documented and shared is an imperative.

Dinner/Evening: Evening time is reserved for traditional Bosnian dinner. Try traditional Bosnian food while chatting about Bosnian culture of living and present day challenges of life. Traditional Bosnian brandy (Šljivovica) and tasty wines of Herzegovina (Žilavka and Blatina) are a must try. Keep in mind that Bosnian food is widely based on meat, but Funky Tours will make sure we have available options equally for vegetarians and vegans.

Destination: Split | Zagreb
Meals Included: B

Breakfast: Our well chosen range of hotels in Sarajevo start serving buffet-style breakfast around 7 AM, featuring Bosnian and International options.

Morning: We’ll depart Sarajevo quite early, at 8 AM. After some 45min we’ll arrive in Visoko and the first stop of the day will be Bosnian Pyramid Complex.

One of the most intriguing recent stories, at global scale, is the story of Bosnian Pyramids. For some only a “hoax”, but for others true evidence of ancient civilisations to have existed at present day European soil which have left us amazing structures, pyramids.

Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun (and 4 more: Pyramid of the Moon, Love, Dragon and Mother Earth) aged roughly 12.000 years, with perfect cardinal points and Northern orientation, where thermal inertia analysis reported to reveal faster heat loss than would occur with a plain hillside, interesting story of pyramidal tunnel complex and many more facts, are reasons good enough to see interesting story of Bosnian pyramids.

Once at the site we’ll have a guided tour at the Pyramids Tunnel Complex where guests will get first hand stories from local experts directly involved in site explorations and tunnel excavations. Be prepared to hear some very interesting stories, as this story might be one of highlights of your Balkans travels.

Afternoon:After we finish at Visoko we move towards our next destination. We will pass some very beautiful regions of river Bosna, canyon of river Lašva before we reach Travnik.

Ottoman time vizier’s town, later Nobel prize winner birthplace with stunning Plava Voda spring, Coloured mosque and old Ottoman fortress are places definitely worth stopping by.

Travnik is also famous for tasty Ćevapi or Travnik white cheese, so why not make this stop not only interesting, but also tastily-interesting.

Doing a break at Plava Voda with some good Bosnian coffee is also a must.

As soon as we finish in Travnik we continue, and after another hour of driving through the amazing regions of the Vrbas river we arrive in Jajce.

Once there, the first thing we go and see is one of the World’s most beautiful waterfalls, and the only one in the World placed in the city center, famous Pliva Waterfalls – spot where Pliva river ends its flow and meets Vrbas is simply breathtaking.

After we bless our eyes and soul we are good for a walking tour through Jajce. We will visit Jajce Citadel (Fortress), the Museum of the Second Session of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), Medvjed Kula, the Tower of St. Luke, famous Catacombs – underground church, one of the World’s very few mosques named after woman – Mosque of Esma Sultanija, and much more. All followed with interesting stories.

Jajce Citadel is an amazingly interesting place giving us great opportunity to see whole area around us and Jajce itself.

>Jajce and Pliva waterfalls in Central Bosnia during the sunset

Pliva Lakes & Pliva Mills – Lunch Break: After we have “tasted” Jajce for roughly 2.30 hours we go for the Lakes. In the vicinity of Jajce on Pliva river there are two lakes. Only five kilometres away we’ll check out Large and Small Pliva lakes.

Very interesting part of the Pliva lakes story are Mills at small Pliva lake. Amongst people famously called “Mlinčići”, which once have been main promotional material for postcards and tourist potential of Great Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy. We will make a stop there too.

Evening: On your own. Arrival to Split is expected in the later afternoon.