Skip to content Skip to footer

Emerald Beauty: Una River, one and only

The Una River is an eternal inspiration and an endless source of poets. She is an inspiration of painters and a passion of anglers and boaters who love her waterfalls and rapids. Una lives next to its Bihać and witnesses the turbulent history of this region.

Because of all that she has to offer, it is no wonder that people call her “the Queen of Rivers“. Some think the name comes from the Latin noun unda, which means “stirred water, wave, waterfall,” while others prefer to say that the Romans, delighted with the beauty of the river, exclaimed, “Una!” – one and only, thus gave her the name. Either way, people of this region are extremely proud of its emerald beauty and jealously guard it.

Witness to history

Una is a border river between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Its 210 km long route Una begins in a remote and sparsely populated part of Croatia. Through its course in Bosnia and Herzegovina it flows through Martin Brod, Kulen Vakuf, Ripac, Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Bosanska Otoka, Bosanski Novi, Bosanska Kostajnica, Bosanska Dubica.

The largest city in the Una-Sana Canton through which Una flows is Bihać. As it flows through the city center, it creates a multitude of green oases and waterfalls that make visitors lose their breath away.

In its course, Una bears witness to the past of this region, and there are numerous artifacts that speak about the way of life of the local inhabitants. Not far from Bosanska Otoka, a boat was found, carved in a trunk of the tree, quite large in size. It served, according to archaeologist Branka Raunig of the Pounja Regional Museum in Bihać, for the transport of goods and people.

Una River is not only the natural beauty of the Una-Sana Canton and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also European and world attraction and a unique river that throughout its course gives life to the cities and settlements through which it flows. That is why it is a life for the citizens of this region in the true sense of that word. In it, they have always fished, built mills to grind grain, and built stilts and settlements on the water.

Una Regatta

Today, this beauty is part of the great treasure of the natural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a place of rich tourist traffic and holding of the international sport and tourist event Una Regatta.

Throughout its course, it makes numerous waterfalls, cascades and overfalls, and the first large waterfall is in Martin Brod, a village about 50 kilometers from Bihać. It is in this part specifically that Una is most breathtaking, since tufa has created many canals, rapids and islets and several larger waterfalls, the largest of which is approximately 35 meters high.

The biggest and most famous attraction is the Štrbački Buk. It is actually several waterfalls, close to each other, and the largest is about 20 meters high and is a magnificent picture for one to enjoy for hours.