Money matters in Bosnia and Herzegovina – cash, card and tipping?

What currency does Bosnia use? Do you need cash? When to tip? Read on for answers to all these questions!

Currency

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) uses its own currency – the convertible mark, or BAM. Its value is pegged to the Euro and it can be hard to get outside of BiH, so you’ll probably need to wait until you get to BiH to get cash.

Cash or card?

Any extended trip to BiH will require cash! We visited many restaurants, cafes and shops where only cash was accepted. That being said, some restaurants and places like supermarkets, pharmacies, hotels and bigger stores accept credit card. It can also be useful to have a few coins handy to use public toilets in places like Sarajevo!

We would recommend withdrawing cash at an ATM. These were plentiful throughout BiH, and have English as an option. There are also plenty of money exchange places, especially in more touristy areas. Most ATMs we found charge a fee to withdraw, so we took out enough cash to cover a few days and cut down on charges.

Can I use Euros?

Some places in BiH accept Euros (most notably in Mostar, which gets a lot of daytrippers from Croatia). You will likely end up paying slightly more due to the exchange rate calculated by individual stores.

Do I need to tip?

This is always a tough one for us, as we come from a country where tipping isn’t customary. We had also read mixed advice online about whether tips were expected in BiH. In our experience, tips weren’t expected but were appreciated when received. In places with table service (restaurants and cafes) we generally rounded up our bill – for example, if something cost 18 BAM we’d round it up to 20. We also tipped our tour guides and transfer drivers, who all provided excellent service, with the amount varying on the length of the tour.