January 12, 2026 — 5:00am

On a rail trail in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s far west, the warning signs are chilling. As we cycle towards the old railway town of Ravno, blood-red signs hang from trees above one of Europe’s largest karst plains, their skulls-and-crossbones cautioning of the presence of land mines. This is not a trail I’ll be leaving for random exploration.

Cycling through the minefield.Andrew Bain

Stretching from Bosnia’s bridge city of Mostar to Dubrovnik on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, the 157-kilometre Ciro Trail is Bosnia’s first rail trail, following the course of an Austro-Hungarian railway that connected Dubrovnik to Austria for much of the 20th century.

It is in some ways an untypical rail trail, following roads more than dedicated paths. For a time, it weaves along roads beside the railway and, later, roads laid down atop the rail bed. Despite that, we see more bikes than cars on my two days on the trail.

The trail also comes with more reminders of Bosnia’s modern history than mere tales of trains. Bombed-out train stations and villages – legacies of the Balkan conflict of the early 1990s – linger like scars in the landscape, as do these landmine signs near Ravno.

Riding by the coast – not your typical rail trail.Andrew Bain

But behind it all, there’s great beauty, from cave systems to curious waterfalls.

From Mostar’s Spanish Square, ringed by wartime ruins, the Ciro Trail sets out strangely on a highway, though within four kilometres I’m riding on quiet roads, passing through vineyards with limestone mountains rising tall around me.

Though the trail follows the course of the Neretva River – the waterway into which Mostar’s bridge jumpers famously leap – out of Mostar it’s a while before the river appears in view. When it does materialise, it does so spectacularly, pouring over black ledges of rock into a deep channel known as the Buna Canals, forming a chain of dozens of small waterfalls.

The Buna Canals on the Neretva River.iStock

For the first 40 kilometres, there’s barely a ripple in the trail’s gradient – a miracle of design in this mountainous landscape – even as it burrows into a narrowing gorge just beyond the canals. Beneath the gorge’s rocky bluffs, a turtle crosses the path ahead of us and every tree branch is seemingly hung with butterflies.

Out of Capljina, pretty much the last stop for cafes and supermarkets on the trail (despite there still being about 120 kilometres to ride), this rail trail finally takes to the rails. Across rickety iron bridges, including one designed by Gustave Eiffel, the Ciro deviates onto a gravel path. Unusually for rail trails, it makes a long squiggling climb into hills above the marshlands that surround large, bird-filled Svitavsko Lake.

Crossing an old railway bridge on the Ciro Trail.Andrew Bain