Trebinje is a town of about thirty thousand people in the far south of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the REPUBLIKA SRPSKA, about thirty kilometres inland from Dubrovnik. All three photographs in this post show it the same way, from above or across the water, because that is the only composition the available frames offer: the small walled old town, the TREBISNJICA river, the bridge, and bare limestone mountains behind.
AND THE FIRST THING TO SAY IS THE PRACTICAL THING, BECAUSE IT CATCHES PEOPLE OUT. THIS IS SOLD AS A DUBROVNIK DAY TRIP AND IT IS A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. An hour's drive takes you out of Croatia and the European Union into Bosnia and Herzegovina, so you cross a real border twice in a day. If you are driving a Croatian hire car, CHECK BEFORE YOU LEAVE that the company permits it and that your insurance extends: many restrict driving into Bosnia, several charge for a cross-border letter, and the FCDO notes that Bosnian border police can ask for printed proof of third-party cover, with border insurance available to buy at the crossings if yours does not reach. Sorting that at the border rather than beforehand is how a day trip becomes an afternoon.
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What Is Here
THE PLANE TREES AND THE SQUARE ARE THE WHOLE POINT AND THEY ARE IN NONE OF OUR PHOTOGRAPHS. Trebinje's defining space is a square shaded by enormous plane trees, lined with cafes, where the entire town sits in the evening over coffee and where the market runs in the morning. It is the most pleasant public space in this batch and it is absent from every frame we hold, which is worth saying plainly: the three photographs here show you the shape of the town from outside it and not the thing you will actually spend your time doing.
THE ARSLANAGIC BRIDGE IS THE OTHER ABSENCE AND IT HAS AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY. It is a two-arched Ottoman bridge of 1574, built on the orders of Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic, the same patron as the great bridge at Visegrad. IT IS NOT WHERE IT WAS BUILT. When the Trebisnjica was dammed for hydroelectricity in the 1960s the bridge's original site was to be flooded, so IT WAS TAKEN APART STONE BY STONE AND RE-ERECTED ABOUT A KILOMETRE UPSTREAM, where it stands now, slightly stranded, carrying nothing in particular. A sixteenth century bridge moved by a socialist dam project is a very Balkan piece of history and it is entirely absent from the photographs.
THE OLD TOWN IS SMALL, WALLED AND TAKES HALF AN HOUR. KASTEL, the eighteenth century Ottoman walled quarter beside the river, has a handful of lanes, an Orthodox church, a mosque, the Museum of Herzegovina and some good cafes. It is modest and it is lived in.
AND THE HILL ABOVE HAS THE BUILDING THAT DEFINES THE TOWN'S PRESENT. HERCEGOVACKA GRACANICA is an Orthodox church built in 2000 on the Crkvina hill, a replica of the medieval Gracanica monastery in Kosovo, erected to house the remains of the poet JOVAN DUCIC, who was born here and died in America in 1943. It is new, it is a statement as much as a church, and the view from it over the valley and the vineyards is the best in the area. Any visitor should understand it as a monument of the Republika Srpska as well as a religious site.
AND THE WINE IS GENUINELY GOOD AND VERY CHEAP. This is the warmest wine region in Bosnia, growing ZILAVKA white and VRANAC red, with a cluster of small wineries in the valley that receive visitors without ceremony. It costs a fraction of the equivalent in Croatia, which is a large part of why Dubrovnik comes here.
When to Go
April to June and September to October. July and August are genuinely too hot. This is the hottest corner of Bosnia, a limestone basin that regularly exceeds thirty-five degrees in summer with no sea breeze to help, and the plane trees are not decorative, they are the local answer to that. Spring and autumn give you warm days, the market, the wine harvest in September and a bearable square.
WINTER IS MILD BY BOSNIAN STANDARDS AND VERY WET. The Trebinje area gets heavy winter rain, among the highest rainfall in Europe in some years, falling in short violent episodes. The town is quiet, the wineries are open and the square is empty.
AND IF YOU ARE COMING FROM DUBROVNIK, COME ON A WEEKDAY, because the border queues at Croatian peak times can add an hour each way.
Bosnia and Herzegovina carries no advised-against areas at all. The FCDO publishes no regional risks page for this country and the phrase advise against does not appear on either its landing page or its safety and security page, which is worth stating plainly because a country that was at war inside living memory is assumed otherwise. Travelling here is not travelling against official advice and it does not touch your insurance. What the advisory does carry is specific and practical, and it is in the sections below rather than in a warning at the top.
Getting There
An hour from Dubrovnik and there is a bus. DUBROVNIK has the nearest airport by a long way and the road crosses at one of two border posts. Buses run from Dubrovnik and from Herceg Novi in Montenegro, and from Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia. Trebinje is walkable once you are there.
MONTENEGRO IS ALSO AN HOUR, which makes this a genuine three-country corner: Trebinje, Dubrovnik and the Bay of Kotor are all within about ninety minutes of each other, with two borders between them.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is one state made of two entities and the practical consequences reach a visitor on her first day. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska have their own police forces, their own institutions and in places their own signage and alphabet, and the FCDO records that TAXI DRIVERS FROM THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA MIGHT REFUSE TO DRIVE TO A DESTINATION IN THE FEDERATION, AND THE SAME IN REVERSE. So a journey that looks like one short hop on a map can need two cars, and the answer is to agree the whole route and the price before the doors close. The FCDO also notes an increase in anti-UK rhetoric from some politicians in the Republika Srpska and says this could translate into wider anti-UK sentiment: that is a reason to keep politics out of conversation with strangers and to avoid planned demonstrations, not a reason to avoid half the country.
Winter tyres are a legal requirement from November to April and the specification is exact. The FCDO states that between November and April you must have tyres marked MS, M+S or M&S with a stylised snowflake symbol and a tread of AT LEAST 4 MILLIMETRES, and that you must carry snow chains and use them when road signs tell you to. Four millimetres is deeper than most hire cars arrive with elsewhere in Europe, so this is a question to ask the hire desk rather than assume. It also warns that road conditions outside the main towns can worsen quickly. Separately, third-party insurance is a legal minimum and the border police can ask for printed proof, with border insurance available to buy at named crossings if yours does not cover the country.
The Trebinje Packing List
Extreme summer heat in a limestone basin, violent winter rain, a hill climb to the monastery, and cafes you will sit in for hours.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women solves a specific problem in this particular town. Trebinje has both an active Orthodox monastery and a mosque, so you need shoulders covered, and it has heat in which a cotton long sleeve becomes intolerable by eleven in the morning. A light wool long sleeve is the thing that covers for Hercegovacka Gracanica, keeps the sun off in a basin where the limestone reflects, and still works when it is soaked through.
A wide brim UPF 50 sun hat, because the walk up Crkvina hill is unshaded and the square's plane trees are the only serious shade in town.
Columbia Saturday Trail stretch trousers or a long skirt, which cover the knee for the monastery and the mosque and are cooler than jeans.
Salomon X Ultra 4 GTX hiking shoes for the hill and the old town's worn stone, and for anything in the karst country around.
An insulated water bottle, which in this heat is equipment rather than a nicety.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket for the winter half of the year, when the rain here arrives in quantity.
Not linked and worth packing: A LIGHT SCARF, which you will want for the monastery; SUNSCREEN, which this registry carries no entry for at all; CASH IN CONVERTIBLE MARKS, because many cafes and small wineries do not take cards; and YOUR PASSPORT ON YOU rather than in the hotel, since you are crossing a border and Bosnia requires identification.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Trebinje
Emergency numbers in Bosnia and Herzegovina: police 122, ambulance 124, fire 123. These are the numbers the FCDO's own getting-help page lists and no others are printed here.THE HEAT IS THE REAL HAZARD AND THE BORDER IS THE REAL INCONVENIENCE. Summer temperatures in this basin are among the highest in the country and there is very little shade outside the square, so the practical risks here are sunburn, dehydration and heat exhaustion rather than anything dramatic. Do the monastery hill early, drink more than you think, and use the plane trees as the locals do.
AND THE ENTITY POINT MATTERS HERE MORE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THIS BATCH. Trebinje is in the Republika Srpska, with its own police force, and the FCDO records that taxi drivers from the Republika Srpska may refuse to drive into the Federation and vice versa. If you plan to go on from here to Mostar, Blagaj or Sarajevo, that is a Federation destination and the taxi arrangement can break at the entity line. Agree the full route and the price before the doors close, or use a bus. The FCDO also notes an increase in anti-UK rhetoric from some politicians in the Republika Srpska and says it could translate into wider anti-UK sentiment: in practice visitors report nothing but hospitality, and the sensible response is to keep politics out of conversation with strangers and avoid planned demonstrations rather than to avoid the place.
Landmines and unexploded weapons remain from the 1992 to 1995 war, and the FCDO lists exactly where to take care. Its words are that highly populated areas and major routes are largely clear and that there is still a risk in less populated and rural areas, with the instruction: do not step off roads and paved areas without an experienced guide. The places it names are THE FORMER LINES OF CONFLICT, THE EDGE OF ROADS, OPEN COUNTRYSIDE, DESTROYED OR ABANDONED BUILDINGS INCLUDING IN TOWNS, NEGLECTED LAND, UNTARRED ROADS, AND WOODS AND ORCHARDS. Read that list rather than skimming it: three of the seven are things a visitor walks into without thinking, because the edge of a road is where you park, an abandoned building is what a photograph is taken of, and an orchard is what a shortcut crosses. The operative rule is that tarmac and maintained path are safe and the verge is not, so this changes where you put your feet rather than whether you come. The Mine Action Centre of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BHMAC, is the authority on which ground is cleared. TREBINJE AND ITS VALLEY WERE NOT A FRONT LINE IN THE WAY CENTRAL BOSNIA WAS, AND THE TOWN, THE ROADS, THE HILL PATHS AND THE VINEYARDS ARE CLEARED AND WORKED DAILY. The warning remains a general one for less populated and rural areas, so the rule is the national one: stay on roads and paved areas, and take a guide if you want to walk in remote karst. That is item 42's converse duty, because saying the warning is background here matters as much as saying it is operative in Jajce or Travnik.
Carry your passport or official photo identification at all times. The FCDO is explicit that you must be able to show identification if required, including when checking into a hotel, so this is not the softer carry-a-copy advice some countries get. Local police do not always speak English and the FCDO's own suggestion is that you may need a translator, which is worth knowing before a routine check turns into a long one.
Neither the EHIC nor the GHIC covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the FCDO says so directly. It also records that medical and dental facilities are limited, particularly outside Sarajevo and the major towns, and tells readers to ensure they have appropriate travel insurance for local treatment or UNEXPECTED MEDICAL EVACUATION. Those two sentences together are the single most consequential thing on the health page: a European card that works in Croatia next door is worth nothing here, and the cover you need is the kind that moves you rather than the kind that reimburses a prescription. The emergency medical number is 124.
US State Department travel advisory: the Bosnia and Herzegovina advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/bosnia-and-herzegovina, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital or clinic: Trebinje has a hospital, the BOLNICA TREBINJE, with an emergency service, and for anything serious the realistic options are BANJA LUKA or SARAJEVO, both several hours away, or DUBROVNIK an hour off across an international border, which is a complication rather than a solution in an emergency. A pharmacy in the town handles minor problems. THE EHIC AND GHIC DO NOT COVER BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, so insurance is your only cover, and the FCDO says explicitly to make sure it includes medical evacuation. Note that a policy bought for a Croatian holiday may not cover a day trip into Bosnia: check the territorial limits before you cross.
Official health authority: the Federal Ministry of Health of Bosnia and Herzegovina. is the Federal Ministry of Health
US Embassy: the US Embassy in Sarajevo.
Official tourism authority: Tourism Bosnia and Herzegovina, the national tourism body. covers the country, and the Trebinje tourist organisation publishes the monastery and museum opening hours and the winery visiting arrangements, most of which are by appointment
Takeaways
An hour from Dubrovnik and in a different country. Check your hire car and insurance cover Bosnia before you leave Croatia.
The plane-tree square is the whole experience and it is in none of our photographs.
The Arslanagic bridge of 1574 was taken apart and moved a kilometre upstream in the 1960s to escape a dam.
Hercegovacka Gracanica on the hill is a replica built in 2000 for the poet Jovan Ducic. The view is the best in the area.
The wine is good and costs a fraction of Croatian prices, which is most of why Dubrovnik comes here.
Solo women safety assessment: Trebinje is a relaxed and hospitable town and an easy place to be alone. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA CARRIES NO ADVISED-AGAINST AREAS AT ALL and the FCDO publishes no regional risks page for it. The square is busy from morning to late evening and a woman sitting alone over a coffee is the most normal thing in the town. English is spoken by younger people and in the wineries. THE PRACTICAL POINTS ARE THE BORDER, THE HEAT AND THE ENTITY LINE. You are crossing an international frontier twice in a day if you come from Croatia, so carry your passport on you, check that your insurance and your hire car both cover Bosnia, and expect queues at Croatian peak times. The summer heat in this basin is genuinely punishing and the monastery hill is unshaded, so go early and carry water. And if you travel on into the Federation, the FCDO records that taxis may refuse to cross the entity line, so agree the route first or take the bus. The Republika Srpska's politics are a live local subject and the FCDO notes anti-UK rhetoric from some politicians; visitors report hospitality rather than hostility, and the sensible course is to listen rather than offer views. Police 122, ambulance 124, fire 123.
Reading On
Trebinje sits in a three-country corner this library covers from the Croatian side. An hour south west, the Dubrovnik packing list covers the walled city and the airport almost every visitor here arrives through. North, the Mostar packing list covers the bridge and the divided city about two hours away, and the Sarajevo packing list the capital beyond it. On the Dalmatian coast, the Korcula packing list covers the island and the Makarska packing list the riviera, with the Split packing list for the port further north. Inland in Croatia, the Plitvice packing list covers the lakes. For the country as a whole, the Bosnia packing list and the Bosnia travel guide for women carry the regions, the entities, the seasons and the costs in full. For why a light wool long sleeve answers both a monastery dress code and extreme dry heat, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection. Across the entity line in the Federation, the Blagaj packing list covers the dervish house at the Buna spring, which is the other great Herzegovinian river-and-cliff site and a journey where the FCDO's note about taxis refusing to cross matters.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
