One Of 'Europe's Most Beautiful Places' Is A Secret Balkan Town With Waterfalls And Emerald Pools

It's not every day you find a town where a waterfall roars right into the city center, and that's just one of the things that makes Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, so unforgettable. It's a town seemingly designed to take your breath away, with its nature and history tumbling into each other, quite literally — it's no wonder that Time Out ranked it second in a list of the "most beautiful places in Europe." While Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital Sarajevo gets most of the attention, it's also a potentially dangerous destination that visitors may want to think twice about. Jajce is a quieter alternative and one that's bound to leave you with some upstaging pictures.

If you don't know much about Bosnia and Herzegovina, it's considered one of the cheapest European countries to visit and full of mountain scenery. It also has a history marked by centuries of shifting empires and, more recently, the devastating Bosnian War of the 1990s. All of this history is evident in Jajce, from its medieval fortress designed to protect the city from two encroaching empires to its war monuments commemorating victims. It's also a city where you can see the fortress, a waterfall, and a catacomb all within a 15-minute walk, plus gorgeous emerald pools and a town center offering wonderful restaurants where you can try local dishes like čevapi and burek.

To get a sense of Jajce's extensive history, start at the Jajce Fortress. The fortress sits on a hill overlooking the Pliva and Vrbas rivers and was built sometime around the 14th century. It includes towering walls enclosing the citadel, serving as a reminder that Jajce was once the capital of the Kingdom of Bosnia, its fortress a defensive center against European conquests. Nevertheless, Bosnia fell under Ottoman rule in the mid-15th century. Then, shortly after the Ottoman conquest, it was sieged by Hungary and remained under Hungarian rule for several decades before being recaptured by the Ottoman empire. Today, you can still see many preserved elements of the fortress, including two bastions, walkable walls, and a gunpowder tower.

The fortress complex beyond the inner citadel includes a few other historic structures that encapsulate Jajce's variegated history, a blend of medieval architecture and Ottoman influence. Some worth checking out include St. Luke's Bell Tower, the Dizdar mosque, and, most intriguing, the Jajce catacombs. The catacombs are an over-600-year-old relic of the Bosnian Kingdom, intended to be the resting place of the grand duke and his family (though, ultimately, no one was ever buried there). Inside, you'll find an underground church with a Gothic dome, symbolic carvings in the stone, and crypts that descend deep into the earth.

Bosnia and Herzegovina isn't just a country full of medieval museum towns — you'll find lots to explore in the realm of nature, like the Sutjeska National Park, home to Europe's oldest rainforest. In Jajce, the Pliva Waterfall crashes into the town center. "Imagine having almost Niagara waterfalls in the middle of [a] medieval town," Tripadvisor reviewer @424tarikfx described. You can view the waterfall from decks near the bus terminal, or pay a small fee to access a viewing platform that sits along an emerald pool at the bottom.

The waterfall is located at the junction of the Pliva and Vrbas rivers, and if you trace the Pliva River up (about a 10-minute drive from the falls), you'll get to the Pliva Lakes. The twin lakes are excellent for basking during the summer months, plus they have picnic areas and rental shacks for kayaking. One well-known swimming spot to check out is the Kupalište Brana, a natural pool connected to a dam in Malo Plivsko, one of the lakes. At the westernmost side of Malo Plivsko, there's also one of Jajce's most iconic sites: the mlinčići, or old watermills. Records suggest these windowless mills originated over 400 years ago, once used by the townspeople for grinding flour.

​Jajce is accessible from several international airports. The nearest is Banja Luka International Airport, about an hour-and-45-minute drive away. Alternatively, Sarajevo International Airport is about 2.5 hours from Jajce by car. From Sarajevo, travelers can also opt for a direct bus to Jajce, taking around 3.5 hours. Once in Jajce, the town's compact size makes it ideal for exploring on foot, though there are also taxis within the town.