Bosnia and Herzegovina by campervan: sleeping and camping

Where you may legally sleep in a campervan in Bosnia and Herzegovina: parking, camping, campsites, stopovers and possible fines.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 19 September 2026

Currency
Convertible mark
BAM, not the euro. 1.95583 KM to €1 at the fixed rate
Languages
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Latin and Cyrillic script both in use
Driving
Right
Motorway 130 km/h, other roads 80 km/h
Insurance
No green card needed
EU checks dropped on 19 October 2020
Landmines
775 km² still suspect
Stay on roads and marked paths
Emergency
112
Ambulance 124

Sleeping

In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, camping outside a registered camp is prohibited and the fine on a person is 50 to 500 KM. The instrument is the Federation's hospitality law, the Zakon o ugostiteljskoj djelatnosti. It defines camping as staying under a tent, in a camping hut, a caravan or other appropriate open-air accommodation equipment, says camping is permitted exclusively in a camp, and prohibits setting up that equipment for camping outside one. It carries the money and allows the equipment to be confiscated.

A caravan pitched on a wooded hillside with chairs, a table and a parasol set out on the grass — Everything out on the grass is the part the law calls camping. The vehicle alone is not

What the law does not describe

A vehicle parked where parking is allowed, on a made surface
Everything inside: cooking, eating, sleeping
Nothing set up on the ground beside it
Moving on in the morning

What the law prohibits outside a camp

Setting up a tent
Setting up a camping hut or a caravan
Setting up other camping equipment for the purpose of camping
Camping itself, in the law's own words
Anywhere off a made surface, for a reason that has nothing to do with this law

Never pull off onto unmade ground to sleep in this country. Not a field, not a forest track, not a grassy verge, not the ground behind an abandoned building. The Foreign Office's instruction is to stay on roads and paved areas, and the safety panel explains exactly why. It is the single most important sentence on this page.

Where to sleep

Option	What it is	What to know
A registered camp	The only place the law permits camping in the Federation.	Sites cluster around Sarajevo, the Una, Herzegovina and the rafting rivers. They are also the answer to water and waste.
A guesthouse with parking	Rooms and a yard, common in the mountain villages.	Often the practical answer in the highlands, and cheap. It also solves the made-surface problem.
A rafting or park base	The Una, the Tara, the Neretva and Sutjeska all have organised camps.	Built for exactly this and staffed by people who know which ground is safe.
A car park or hard standing	Parking, where parking is allowed.	What the law targets is setting up, not standing still. The page does not claim more than that.
Anywhere off a made surface	Not worth it here.	The mine contamination map is the reason, not the hospitality law.

Two entities, two answers

That prohibition and its 50 to 500 KM fine belong to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which covers the centre, the west and Herzegovina.
Republika Srpska legislates separately, and its hospitality law could not be read for this page. Its 2026 Law on Tourism carries no camping prohibition.

Water, waste and practicalities

Service points for emptying tanks are thin outside the organised campsites. Empty when you can.
Rivers here are the country's best feature and the worst possible place to put grey water.