Bosnia & Herzegovina

In the first half of the 1990s, Bosnia Herzegovina took the world stage in the worst sort of way: through the horrors of the Bosnian War, which erupted on the heels of Yugoslavia’s breakup and impacted millions in the region. The physical and emotional toll of that conflict remains tangible, but it’s a fresh age for this reborn country, and increasing numbers of foreign visitors are getting a taste for the scenic, historical, and cultural delights of its Balkan landscape.

The war clobbered Bosnia Herzegovina’s infrastructure, but beautiful monuments—some of which survived the fighting, others of which have been carefully restored—suggest the depth of the country’s history and symbolize the sturdiness of its people. For instance, there’s the iconic Old Bridge (Stari Most) of Mostar, an Ottoman-era span of the Neretva River that has been painstakingly rehabilitated. (Come in the summer and watch adrenaline junkies hurtle off the bridge in an annual contest.) Sarajevo’s got its own Turkish Empire overpass, too, one charged with grand history: Its Latin Bridge marks the spot where Archduke Franz Ferdinand met his end by an assassin’s bullet, helping spark World War I. Or how about Sarajevo’s Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, a truly standout piece of Ottoman craftsmanship? In a country whose most important divisions have often followed religious lines, Sarajevo claims a famously multi-faith cityscape: You’ll see Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic, and other houses of worship as you crisscross its Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian quarters.

Besides a venue for historical and religious architecture, Sarajevo’s a thrumming cultural center—a place to survey art museums, film festivals, concerts, and (crucially) local cuisine, which, as elsewhere in the Balkans, fuses Greek, Turkish, Middle Eastern, and southern European culinary styles into a delectable conglomerate.

Those unfamiliar with Bosnia Herzegovina geography may be surprised by the ruggedness and grandeur of the landscape, a noble topography that fosters some of southeastern Europe’s most fertile opportunities for outdoor adventure. Pay your respects to the rooftop of the country in Sutjeska National Park, where crag-buttressed 7,828-foot Maglic looms in the grand Dinaric Alps (one of southeastern Europe’s defining ranges). High peaks and cliff-tumbling waterfalls are flashy highlights of that park, but perhaps its most remarkable feature is the old-growth forest of Perucica—one of the only such tracts left in Europe. In the karst country of Herzegovina, you can enjoy the cave-ridden countryside while savoring the region’s lauded wines.

Meanwhile, Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast almost entirely blockades Bosnia Herzegovina, but the country does claim a sliver of an Adriatic riviera around the resort hub of Neum. It may be only a modest seacoast, but that doesn’t make the beaches any less pleasant.

If Bosnia Herzegovina’s never made it on your to-go list, now’s the time to remedy the oversight. Don’t ignore the legacy of its still-fresh tumult—indeed, take much time to meditate upon it—but don’t let that dark passage overshadow the stronger, older, sweeter melodies that buoy the nation.