More than four million pilgrims have crossed into Bosnia and Herzegovina since six children reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary on Podbrdo Hill in June 1981. The village of Medjugorje, once a cluster of vineyards and limestone farmhouses in the Herzegovinian karst, has since become one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, drawing visitors from every continent who arrive by coach, private car, and on foot along the ancient routes that thread the Dinaric highlands. The journey from Split to Medjugorje covers approximately 150 kilometers, crossing the Croatian border at Metković and continuing south through the fertile Neretva River valley before ascending into the dry, sun-bleached hills of western Herzegovina. The route passes through the historic Ottoman city of Mostar, where the reconstructed Stari Most bridge arches over the jade-green river, then climbs westward into the uplands where tobacco fields give way to rocky pasture. Road conditions improved markedly after 2010, when the European Union funded upgrades to the M17 highway, reducing travel time to roughly two and a half hours under normal border wait conditions. A private transfer from Split to Medjugorje offers control over departure time, direct routing, and the flexibility to pause at Mostar or the Kravice waterfalls if arranged in advance. Medjugorje itself centers on St. James Parish Church, a modernist structure completed in 1969 that now anchors a network of outdoor prayer sites, hostels, and visitor infrastructure. Pilgrims typically walk the rocky path up Apparition Hill at dawn or dusk, a forty-minute climb marked by bronze reliefs of the Stations of the Cross and ending at a simple white statue overlooking the valley. Cross Mountain, a steeper ascent to the south, rises 520 meters and bears a concrete cross visible from the village below. Both paths are unshaded and strewn with sharp limestone scree, making early-morning arrival advisable during the summer months when midday temperatures regularly exceed thirty-five degrees Celsius. The Vatican's Commission of Inquiry, convened in 2010 and reporting in 2017, did not authenticate the apparitions but acknowledged the site's pastoral value and the sustained flow of conversions, confessions, and reported healings documented by parish records. The Apostolic Visitator appointed in 2018 continues to oversee diocesan governance, and the Holy See permits organized pilgrimages under certain conditions. Daily Mass is celebrated in multiple languages, and confession is available in more than twenty tongues, reflecting the site's global draw. Accommodations range from family-run guesthouses to purpose-built pilgrimage hotels, most within walking distance of the church and open year-round despite the winter cold that settles into the valley each December.