Find your next adventure.

One of the most dramatic via ferratas in the Balkans, reached in a way few others are: by kayak. After a 20-minute paddle across the emerald-green Grabovica Lake on the Neretva, you climb a 250-metre Grade D route up steep cliffs at the foot of Prenj, high above the river canyon. It's serious vertical terrain built for experienced climbers, but with a guide it's open to adventurous first-timers with a strong head for heights. The descent follows a marked trail past a viewpoint above Glogošnica.

Runs April-October

200 metres of cable and 80 metres of height gain on the wall above Fortica fortress, ten minutes from the road. Graded A/B and about half an hour of climbing, with the Old Bridge in view for most of it. There is a swinging bridge partway up, and the route finishes near the glass-floored Skywalk deck. Two hours door to door from the centre of Mostar.

Runs year-round, weather permitting

600 metres of cable and 350 metres of height gain on Hum, the hill directly above Mostar, broken up by three suspension bridges. It is the longest route in the city and the one with the widest view over the Neretva valley and the Old Bridge. The route carries no published grade; we rate it B/C from guiding it. Sustained but never desperate, which makes it a good second ferrata or an ambitious first one.

Runs year-round, weather permitting

A full day on the Neretva starting from Konjic. The water is green and cold, and the rapids are Class II to III, which is enough to get you paddling hard in places without any of it being technical. In between there are long flat stretches where the canyon walls close in and you can stop paddling and look up. You pass under old Ottoman stone bridges on the way down, and there is time to swim where the river pools. A licensed skipper runs each raft. Lunch afterwards is a traditional Bosnian meal at a restaurant by the water.

Runs April-October

The Bijela cuts a narrow limestone canyon at the foot of Prenj, and the only sensible way through it is to get wet. You work downstream about three kilometres: sliding down water-polished rock, jumping into pools where the water turns turquoise, rappelling the waterfalls that are too high to jump, and swimming the sections where the walls come in close enough to touch both sides. The water stays cold all summer, which is the point in July. Wetsuit and technical gear are provided.

Runs May-September

Istup is where the Svilica drops over 200 metres in a series of falls, and almost nobody is there. Getting to it is a full day: hiking in across dry Herzegovinian hillside, then tracing the river itself, scrambling over rock, swimming the deeper sections, and jumping from the ledges into the pools if you want to. The route passes through a couple of old villages on the way.

Runs April-October

500 metres of cable above Blagaj with about 150 metres of height gain, ten minutes from the road. Graded A/B: it traverses sideways more than it climbs, which keeps it technically easy for its length, around 45 minutes on the cable with a few steeper pitches. The Buna spring and the Dervish house are minutes away when you finish.

Runs year-round, weather permitting