Bosnia Tipped for 2012 Adventure Travel

"The ancient highland caravan routes that linked mountain towns for centuries now make for a heavenly singletrack system for the knobby-tire set," the authors write.

National Geographic ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina third on its Best Adventure Destinations for 2012 list.
 
The renowned magazine noted that since the Lonely Planet guidebook company prophesied in 2009 that Bosnia was“poised to become Eastern Europe’s year-round center for adventure”, many skiers, hikers and rafters have visited the country- and mountain bikers are not far behind.

The most well-known routes for mountain biking that start from the Bosnian capital include a ride up to the Olympic mountains of Igman and Bjelasnica to Lukomir, the highest village in the country, situated at some 1500 metres.

There are other popular destinations, including the region of Prenj mountain in Herzegovina, and bike routes that often include mountain lakes and rivers.

The magazine also notes that some local agencies have begun organising routes starting from Sarajevo and incorporating “the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman culture with present-day adventure.”

Other places worth a visit for the adventure traveler in 2012, according to National Geographic, include Bruneau and Jarbidge rivers in Idaho for rafting, Western Australia's Ningaloo reef for swims with the whale sharks, Mustagata in China for mountain-climbing, hiking in Newfoundland, Canada, and surfing in Todos Santos in Mexico.