Mostar Transportation

The bus I took from Dubrovnik cost 70 Kunas (about 9 Euros, or 11 USD) to make the 2 hour journey to Mostar. It was a comfortable bus with plenty of room and seats that recline, though only slightly. The journey took me through some interesting valleys and along the Croatian coast and I met a Japanese guy named Takashi who was traveling on to Sarajevo. We had a good conversation about our travels.

Mostar is connected with most of bigger cities around with buses and trains. You can reach Mostar buy bus from Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Split and even from Belgrade. The Bus station is renovated and located just across Emperor Bridge on the left bank of Neretva.

When you arrive in Mostar, this is the main bus station. Head toward the mountain with the cross on top and you'll be heading toward the Old Town and the Muslim Quarter (the most interesting part of town). Or you can head straight ahead toward the Neretva River and cross the closest bridge which will bring you to some of the city's newer and nicer hotels (although don't expect incredibly high standards). There are some coffee shops and magazine stands at the bus terminal, but the so-called information stand was useless to me (closed).

When traveling between Dubrovnik and Mostar there are three checkpoints. Two are when you go through the Neum Corridor which is a short stretch of Adriatic coast that actually belongs to Bosnia Hercegovina. So, coming from Dubrovnik, you'll be stopped entering into the corridor as well as when you exit. Then again, when you cross the inland border into Bosnia Hercegovina (pictured here). The bus driver will collect everyone's passport and then a border guard will enter the bus and pass them back out to each person. As the only non-Slavic speaking person on the bus, my presence held us up an extra five minutes or so. After handing all of the passports and documents back to the others, the officer motioned to me that he would need an extra few minutes with mine. He exited the bus and came back about five minutes later, handed me my passport and we were on our way.

In the Old Town, I saw a few taxis, some of which were of the older model Mercedes Benz variety. There is a taxi stand (just a signpost really) on the Main Street in the Muslim Quarter where they seem to gather.

The best way is to get there by bus. BEWARE: there are two bus stations!! One is the large one near the old town on the muslim side where buses come from Sarajevo and other local places, the other smaller bus station is on the croat side and has buses from Austria and some from Germany. Make sure you know which is your bus station or like me you will be running very quickly with lots of luggage across town. I took a bus from Vienna to Mostar direct. It cost 66 Euros return and takes 14 hours. It leaves Vienna's Südbahnhof at 5 pm on Mondays and Thursdays and 2pm on Fridays it returns to Vienna on Sundays at 6 am and other days I'm not sure. Call Eurolines for details (see my Vienna page). Buy tickets on the bus only. You could also take a bus, train or fly to Sarajevo and then take a bus from there.
If its late at night take a taxi otherwise the best thing to do is walk especially as the old town is so small.

The bus station is on the East side of town, to the north of the Old Town. Regular buses go to Sarajevo (3 hours, 6 a day), Split (4 hours, 3 a day) and Dubrovnik (3 hours, 2 a day).

Alternatively, there is now a daily train service (the station is next to the bus station) with one per day to Sarajevo, and one to Ploce (on the Croatian coast).

1 more image

Air Bosna flies every Wednesday directly from Istanbul at 11:10,and on Sunday from Mostar to Istanbul at 07:45