Lukomir

Lukomir sits at around fourteen hundred and fifty metres on the edge of the Bjelašnica plateau, on the rim of the Rakitnica canyon, and it is the highest permanently inhabited village in Bosnia and among the most isolated in Europe: a single row of squat stone houses roofed with cherry-wood shingles, no trees, and the ground falling away eight hundred metres to the river below. Traditionally the villagers were semi-nomadic, living up here through the summer with their sheep and moving down before the snow closed the road, which it does for months at a time, and a handful of families still follow that rhythm while others have opened simple guesthouses. Walking routes cross the plateau to it from Umoljani and along the canyon rim, and the highland is covered in wildflowers and shepherds' huts in summer.

What you actually see

• The stone village - the row of houses under cherry-wood shingle roofs.
• The canyon rim - the drop of eight hundred metres to the Rakitnica river.
• The Bjelašnica plateau - highland pasture, wildflowers and shepherds' huts.
• The walk from Umoljani - the plateau route to the village on foot.

When to go

June to September is the season; the village is snowbound and largely empty for much of the rest of the year, with the road impassable. Even in summer the weather turns quickly at this altitude. Walking in from Umoljani takes about three hours each way and is the better way to arrive.

Honest expectations

The road up is rough and steep and takes about two hours from Sarajevo, and it closes with the first serious snow. The village is tiny, with a couple of guesthouses serving simple food and no other facilities. People live here and it is not a museum, so ask before photographing anyone. Some houses are abandoned and unsafe.

Nearby

Umoljani village and the Bjelašnica ski area are on the same plateau; Sarajevo is two hours away.