Mostar
After crossing the border from Croatia, we start our journey in one of the best known tourist towns in Bosnia Herzegovina. Mostar is best known for the restored 16th century bridge and it’s a popular daytrip from Split.
Unpaved road from Nevesinje to Kalinovik
We’ll make our way to the village of Nevesinje. From there it’s a small short way to the start of the unpaved road to Vrgorac [dangerous-roads.org]. Vrgorac is the mountain halfway, but the road itself is a tourist attraction too (see Ruta Kalinovik Nevesinje). It’s located inside Sutjeska National Park and it has some walking trails around it.
The road is called R433 and is clearly marked on google maps. It seems to be a well maintained gravel road, but as it’s going up the mountain challenging conditions can be expected during or after (heavy) rains. There’s some small churches and sights along the way, for example the Medieval Tombstones.
There’s some campsites in the National Park. On iOverlander you can find some spots for wild camping too, but you’re not allowed to camp without prior permission.
R434A and Bistrica Canyon
Depending on how challenging the R433 turned out to be, we might take a small detour to the village of Orckavlje via the R434A. The road conditions here are uncertain, it looks alright but it is unpaved for sure. It leads to the M18, just as the main road does, but ends a bit more to the south. This way we get to ride through the Bistrica Canyon.
Sarajevo
As we ride the M18 two lane highway up north, we’ll reach the only patch of land that is flat to a certain degree. No wonder they built a city here: Sarajevo.
This city obviously has too many historically valuable places to list here quickly. I recommend this blogpost by IntoTheBloom.com which elaborates on the history and museums as well as cafés and popular spots like the bobsleigh track.
If we have only a few hours in this city, this is my selection of places I wouldn’t want to miss:
- Gallery 11/7/95 a museum that focuses on the genocide in Srebrenica.
- Latin Bridge where Franz Ferdinand was shot.
- Canned Beef Monument commemorating failing humanitarian aids.
Former eastern railroad
From Sarajevo we’ll try to drive the former Eastern railway track. The Eastern railway was constructed in 1904 and dismanteled in 1978. It was notoriously expensive to built, due to the 99 tunnels and countless bridges that had to be constructed.
Part 1: Abandoned railway Sarajevo to Pale
It’s hard to find reliable recent information on the status of the track, other than the article on dangerousroads.org. From what we can tell, there are new tracks around all parts of the track that became inpassable. Most of the bridges have collapsed. There’s a walking trail on google maps for the first part, but it ends (here) before reaching Pale. We might have to backtrack take the main road to Pale, but I do think it’s worth it even if we end up backtracking.
Part 2: Abandoned railway Praca Canyon
The track turns to tarmac from Pale. It’s called the M5 and that road runs all the way through the Praca Canyon, but it’s unpaved after the small village at this location. From there the M5 continues, according to this article on dangerousroads.org it was motorable for any vehicle in 2020, I also found images of road repairs dating from 2021.
But google maps and Osmand are both a bit reluctant to follow the track and it’s hard to see on sattelite images. The track is visible on satalite again from this point to the main road. Someone logged this road by mountainbike in 2023. It seems this river crossing is the bottleneck. So I guess just have a look and if you get stuck just drive around to Ustipraca.
Part 3: M5 to Mededa and Vodonice
Even if the unpaved adventures above don’t work out, don’t worry because the rest of the M5 is in good condition and though it’s good tarmac, it’s equally beautiful. The road to Mededa is sometimes hardly visible on the map, because of the amount of tunnels. This in combination with the gorge and the river below makes for a great drive.
Visit the old railway station in Visegrad to celebrate the finish of the ride today.
