A Stunning National Park with So-So Public Transit

Bihac is a small city in the Northwest of Bosnia that is largely unremarkable - save for being the most common starting location for a trip to Una National Park. The park was formed in 2008 to protect the Una river and its two tributaries - including two noteworthy waterfalls. It’s comparable to Krka National Park or Plitvice National Park in Croatia - although the entrance fees are much smaller ($3 compared to $30), there are far fewer tourists, and the transit to get to the parks is more challenging. Because the park was recently formed, it includes many lived-in settlements, so you can stay in the park itself.

The easiest way to see the park is if you have a car or bike, pay for a local taxi or tour to take you around, or come in high season and go river rafting through the main sections. If you’re on a tighter budget, like we were, getting to the main sights without your own transit is doable - though you have to be ready to walk a lot. I think it’s worth it, though, and I’m glad that we made the journey.

HIKE TO STRBACKI BUK (THE MAIN WATERFALL)

Strbacki Buk is the most famous site in Una National Park - its largest waterfall, and one that cascades down through several tiers. To get there without a car, you can take the local bus from Bedem Station in Bihac toward Kulen Vakuf, telling the bus driver you are going to Cukovi. The bus driver should drop you off near this entrance (44°40'01.1"N 16°03'36.6"E), which is the start of about a 3 mile hike that ends near the waterfall. The hike ends past the entrance, so you won’t have to pay the small fee (about $3) if you enter by hiking instead of by the main road. Once you’re there, there’s a wooden bridge path to get the best view points, like you would have in Krka or Plitvice.

In terms of getting back, you can reverse course back through the hike, and call down the bus in Cukovi as it passes. Instead, we walked to Kulen Vakuf, where we had rented an apartment overnight. It was a very long walk (3.5 hours) but it went by fast; renting a place overnight let us take our time, and allowed us to head to the other waterfall first thing the following morning. When you get to Bihac, I recommend checking at the Unasana Tourist Information Center for the current bus schedule.

THEN HEAD TO MARTIN BROD (THE SMALLER WATERFALL)

The second most famous site in Una National Park is Martin Brod’s big waterfall - which is smaller than Strbacki Buk but also very different. Here, the water falls down in smaller streams and forms pools - that look a bit like thermal spas (even though they’re full of ice cold mountain water). There is no public transportation to Martin Brod, so we walked round-way from Kulen Vakuf (about 7 miles each way), and then caught the bus back to Bihac from Kulen Vakuf. It’s not a bad walk because there are nice sights throughout, but you can also try to rent a bike from Atlantis KV in Kulen Vakuf to make it shorter.

EXPLORE THE NATURE IN BIHAC

The downtown of Bihac is very small - so you can explore it in half an hour or so. I don’t think the town itself has much of note, but you can go to Gradski Park to walk along the river - and walk to the small islands within the river (just north of the park) to get some really beautiful scenic views. It’s the kind of town that you can tell is a making an effort to improve itself, and I expect it will look much different in ten years. It has all the foundations of a great tourist destination - so I’d be prepared to see it come in to its own as tourism in Bosnia continues to grow.