Gacko is a high-plateau town, around the thousand-metre mark on the karst fields of eastern Herzegovina, and you feel the altitude as soon as you step off the bike. The air is cooler and thinner than in the Adriatic valleys not far to the south, the winters are long and snowy, and the surrounding polje is a wide, treeless bowl ringed by bare limestone hills. It is a landscape that looks almost Scottish on a grey day, with sheep, stone walls and long views.
The town is small, with around three thousand people, and has long been known as a crossing point on the old route between the interior and Montenegro and the coast. A medieval heritage lingers in the region, with stećci, the large carved limestone grave markers unique to this part of the Balkans, scattered in fields and cemeteries around Herzegovina. If you see an odd block of stone with carved patterns standing in a meadow, it is probably one of these, and they are usually centuries older than anything else nearby. Coal mining and a thermal power plant have also shaped the local economy, which is why you will notice industrial chimneys on the edge of an otherwise rural plateau.
For motorcyclists, the interest is in the roads that leave the town. North toward Foča and Tjentište the route climbs and drops through forested hills, with long rolling curves and some very fast sections that need respect for oncoming trucks. Towards Montenegro the road cuts south-west and then drops toward the Piva region, with huge landscapes of rock and water. Surfaces change from fresh asphalt to patched, broken sections, and winter damage is common in spring. The weather can switch quickly up here, so a rain layer is wise even on a hot day, and early mornings can start cold.
Because Gacko is a small town with a few thousand people, it should have basic services such as shops and cafés, but for a safe fuel plan note that Bileća, the larger town to the south-west, and Foča, further north, are the larger centres. Stop for a coffee and something from a bakery, look at the empty plateau, and let the sheer scale of the open country sink in before heading on towards the canyon roads.