Taxi across the border from Bosnia: Dubrovnik & Croatia
Plenty of visitors combine Bosnia with Croatia or Montenegro, and the question comes up fast: can you just take a taxi across the border? Yes — but not in any taxi, and not without a couple of things arranged in advance.
Not every taxi can leave the country
This is the part that catches people out. A vehicle crossing an international border for hire needs international transport authorisation. A local city taxi licensed to operate in Mostar or Sarajevo is not automatically permitted to drive you into Croatia.
So when you book, ask directly: does this vehicle have international transport authorisation? Companies that regularly run Dubrovnik transfers will answer immediately, because they do it every week. A driver who hesitates, or offers to “sort it at the border”, is not the right booking — being turned back at the crossing with luggage and a flight to catch is a bad afternoon.
Book this kind of trip with a company that advertises international transfers, and book it ahead rather than flagging a car down on the street.
What it costs
Prices are per vehicle, agreed in advance. No meter runs on a cross-border journey — a city price list has no legal force outside its own city, so any quote you get is a negotiated flat fare.
Mostar → Dubrovnik (140 km, about 2.5 hours): roughly 235–370 KM per car (about €120–190). The bus on the same route costs about €15–25 per person.
Sarajevo → Dubrovnik (240 km, about 4 hours): roughly 590–780 KM per car (about €300–400). The bus is about €25.
The gap is large, and it should be stated plainly: for one or two people the bus is dramatically cheaper. A taxi starts making sense with three or four passengers, an early flight from Dubrovnik airport, or a schedule the bus simply does not serve.
Documents and the crossing itself
- Passports for everyone, and check visa requirements for both countries — Croatia is in the Schengen area, Bosnia is not, so this is a real external border.
- Everyone gets checked. The driver hands over the vehicle documents; passengers show passports.
- Allow for queues. In July and August the Bosnia–Croatia crossings can back up substantially, particularly at weekends. A 2.5-hour drive can become four.
- Do not carry anything you would not carry through an airport. It is a customs border with duty-free limits on alcohol and tobacco.
- Pets need paperwork — microchip and an EU pet passport with a valid rabies vaccination. Arrange this well ahead; it is not a border-crossing improvisation.
Money
Bosnia uses the convertible mark (KM), pegged to the euro at a fixed 1 EUR = 1.95583 BAM. Croatia and Montenegro both use the euro.
For a cross-border ride, agree in advance which currency you are paying in and at what rate. Drivers on this route generally accept euros, but the rate they apply is at their discretion unless you settle it beforehand. If you are paying in euros, use the pegged rate as your reference — it is fixed, not a floating exchange rate, so there is a correct number.
Bring cash. Cards are rarely an option for this kind of hire, and a cash machine on the far side does not help you when the fare is due.
Montenegro
The same rules apply — international authorisation, passports, cash agreed in advance. Trebinje is the natural jumping-off point in the far south, close to both Dubrovnik and the Montenegrin border, and journeys from there are shorter and cheaper than from Mostar or Sarajevo.
One-way vs return
An important piece of the pricing: on a one-way crossing your driver returns empty. That empty leg is built into the fare, which is why a one-way to Dubrovnik costs close to what a return might seem to justify.
If you are going and coming back the same day, ask for a return price with waiting. It is usually far better value than two one-ways, because the driver avoids one empty run.
When to take the taxi anyway
- Early flights from Dubrovnik. The bus rarely gets you there for a 7am departure.
- Three or four passengers. Per-vehicle pricing starts to compete with four bus tickets.
- Heavy luggage, or travelling with small children, where a coach plus transfers is genuinely hard.
- Door to door. The bus leaves you at Dubrovnik’s bus station, still short of the old town.
When to take the bus
Almost every other time. On this particular route the price difference is one of the largest of any journey in the region, and the buses are frequent, comfortable and reliable. Check schedules at redvoznje.ba before committing to a car.
In short
A taxi can take you from Bosnia into Croatia or Montenegro, but only with a vehicle authorised for international transport — confirm that when booking. Expect 235–370 KM from Mostar to Dubrovnik and 590–780 KM from Sarajevo, per car, agreed in advance and paid in cash. For one or two people the bus wins overwhelmingly; for a group with an early flight, the car earns its price.
Route prices are on our transfers page, and safety guidance for visitors is on taxi prices in Bosnia.