Mostar shopping splits in two: the copper-beaten bazaar lanes where craftsmen still hammer coffee sets by hand, and the workaday west-bank streets where nobody sells a fridge magnet. Three days covers both — plus Pijaca Tepa's fig jam and Blagaj's wool.
Mostar's open-air produce market since Ottoman times, busiest 07:00–13:00 daily. Herzegovinian specialities: dried figs, sour cherry and rose-hip jam, medovina honey brandy, ajvar pepper relish. Jars run 5–12 KM; a kilo of figs about 15 KM. Cash only, haggling mild.
The bazaar's east end still has working ateliers where men hammer džezva coffee pots and engraved trays over anvils. A genuine hand-worked džezva costs 25–60 KM; machine-pressed tourist copies from Turkey go for 10 KM and ring hollow when tapped.
Flat-weave kilims, ćilim runners and hand-knitted wool socks from Bosnian villages fill the covered stretch above the bridge. Small runners 60–150 KM, full kilims 250 KM upward, wool socks 10–15 KM a pair. Most vendors ship internationally for a fee.
A 16th-century Ottoman family home off Gaše Ilića, still privately owned, selling embroidered cushion covers, filigree pieces and copperware in its courtyard alongside the 5 KM house tour. Quieter and cheaper than the bridge stalls, open roughly 09:00–18:00 in season.
Mostar's only modern mall, on the west bank beside the Mepas tower. Four floors of international brands, Bingo supermarket in the basement and a rooftop terrace. Open 09:00–22:00 daily. Useful for prices in plain marked KM after two days of bazaar bargaining.
Herzegovina's two indigenous grapes — white Žilavka and red Blatina — are sold here by the bottle from Čitluk and Ljubuški producers. Bottles run 15–45 KM, with tasting flights available. Staff explain which cellars ship to the EU without duty problems.
The east bank's real shopping spine, running north from the bazaar past bookshops, jewellers, pharmacies and clothing stores where Mostarci actually buy. Prices are marked and fixed. Bookshops here stock Bosnian literature in English translation for 20–35 KM.
The street running west from the bridge holds several silversmiths working Bosnian filigree — fine twisted silver wire soldered into earrings, brooches and bracelets. Earrings from 40 KM, larger brooches 120 KM upward. Look for the 925 hallmark stamped on the clasp.
Twelve kilometres southeast at the Buna spring, the lane to the dervish house has stalls selling raw wool blankets, lavender bundles, pomegranate syrup and local rakija. Prices sit well under Mostar's: blankets 50–90 KM, rakija bottles 15–25 KM. Bus 10 from Mostar, 3 KM.
A tiny tea house on Onešćukova where the owner blends Herzegovinian mountain herbs — sage, immortelle, wild mint — into loose sachets sold alongside the tea service. Sachets 8–15 KM, and the immortelle oil pressed near Stolac is a genuinely local product.
Several Kujundžiluk workshops turn spent brass shell casings from the 1990s war into engraved pens, vases and coffee sets — Mostar's most-argued-over souvenir. Pens 15–25 KM, engraved vases 40–80 KM. Note that engraved brass may draw questions at airport security.
A small west-bank gallery near the Franciscan church selling original watercolours and prints of the gorge and bridge by Mostar-based artists. Unframed prints from 30 KM, originals 150 KM upward — an alternative to the mass-printed bridge canvases in the bazaar.