Hi Gigi, I totally agree, given the choice Split is a better place to live. We stayed there for about two months and would really recommend homes in the Marjan Park area. The neighborhood is a short bike ride from downtown but is separated from much of the city by a tunnel, which definitely makes it feel like it’s own neighborhood. Best of both worlds if you’re visiting Split!

I did take a nice day trip out to Kravice Falls and to a cool Dervish monastery called Blagaj, but those are both a little ways outside of town. Kravice is about an hour outside of Mostar and 3 hours outside of Sarajevo, so you could do that same trip from Sarajevo. Plus in Sarajevo you can get a five minute taxi ride and be high up in the greenest hills. For proximity to great hiking, I’d definitely go Sarajevo, but to be fair it was too hot when I was in Mostar to try hiking the nearby hills.

In town, I wasn’t blown away by the food in either city, but Sarajevo has more variety. I also felt that Sarajevo had more of a night life. If you just want to go out for a drink and hear some live music, you’re going to have more options in Sarajevo.

All that said, I can easily imagine falling in love with Mostar, especially when the weather is cooler. The people are wonderful in both cities. At the hotel where I was staying, I mentioned to the guy at the desk that I couldn’t rent a car in Europe because I never learned to drive stick shift and there are hardly any automatic transmissions. He said “Meet me here 9am tomorrow and I will teach you in my car!” Sure enough, he did!

I prefer small to mid sized cities. I don’t like the huge ones. I think you’re underestimating how touristy these places are. Dubrovnik would be doable as it has other stuff going on, but mostar, once the tourists are all bussed back home in the afternoon, is a ghost town. I stayed over night and it was pretty shocking. A bit like a creepy zombie movie where you’re the only person still alive in the whole city. Perhaps that’s what you’re after (so many people you can’t walk during the day but empty at night). Another option though might be one of the winter resort areas? They’re small towns with all the outdoor stuff going on but without the thousands of imported tourists wandering through daily.