Queues: Croatia–Bosnia and Herzegovina border today

About the border: Croatia–Bosnia and Herzegovina border

The Croatian-Bosnian border is Croatia's longest: in the north it mostly follows the Sava river, then runs through the mountains down to the Adriatic coast. Croatia is in the EU and, since 1 January 2023, in Schengen; Bosnia and Herzegovina is outside the Union. Every crossing therefore has full passport and customs checks, and non-EU travellers are also registered in the EU's entry/exit system.

The page lists ten crossings. On the Sava are, among others, Stara Gradiška–Gradiška on the road to Banja Luka, Slavonski Brod–Brod, Slavonski Šamac–Šamac, Županja–Orašje, Gunja–Brčko and Jasenovac–Gradina. Svilaj is a new motorway crossing on the route towards Sarajevo, and Maljevac–Velika Kladuša serves Bosnia's north-western corner. In the south, Vinjani Donji–Gorica links the Imotski area with Herzegovina, and Klek–Neum lies on the Adriatic coastal road, which runs for a few kilometres through Bosnian Neum. According to our data, queues are usually shortest at Svilaj and Vinjani and longest at Stara Gradiška and Maljevac.

Traffic rises in summer, at weekends and around holidays, when the diaspora from Western Europe visits family. Since the Pelješac Bridge opened in 2022, drivers heading for Dubrovnik can bypass Neum and its double border crossing, so part of the transit traffic now avoids this crossing. The smaller Sava crossings mostly carry local traffic between the two banks.

Have a passport or ID card ready and check that your insurance covers Bosnia and Herzegovina (green card). Croatian motorways are tolled at toll plazas, as are motorway sections in Bosnia. When a Sava crossing is jammed, a neighbouring one often pays off – they are not far apart.

When to go

Border queues are usually shortest at night, roughly between 01:00 and 05:00, and longest in the evening and at weekends. In the holiday season the Balkan-route peak falls on Saturdays. Check the live figures above before setting off.