The Best Hotels to Book in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

How, you might ask, does a 10-room hotel have a garage with 40 parking spaces? If you’re the Verso Hotel in the old town, which stands alongside an underground carpark, the answer’s clear (and there’s an electric charging point, too). Immaculate modern rooms feature giant images of 1960s Mostar so you’ll likely glimpse the city in sepia before even getting out of bed. The ground-floor restaurant has a cool vibe, even cooler lighting and a pleasant cafe terrace.

When it opens in October 2021, the Marriott will be the largest hotel in Mostar, with an all-singing, all-dancing range of rooms and amenities. Close to Stari Most and a kink in the River Neretva, its spacious, elegant rooms and suites have city or atrium views with a sober palette of cream, beige and brown. Restaurants include a dedicated barbecue grill, an Italian and an Asian-fusion venue, which between them look set to make their mark on the local dining map, too. Crowning it all is a swanky rooftop pool and terrace.

In the northern reaches of the old town, near the railway station, the partially uplit facade of Hotel Pasha bears faint hints of art deco. But inside, this modern hotel’s 27 rooms feature a contemporary decor of mottled greys and mustard yellows, matched with sensible furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows. The small wellness centre offers saunas, hydro- and regular massages, but perhaps the happiest surprise is the rooftop pool with a bar and terrace.

In a modern, but low-rise building, which wraps around Mostar’s western bus station, the City doesn’t readily feel like the city’s most appealing location. Yet staying here puts you in the heart of workaday Mostar, with all its lively and, importantly, untouristy cafes, bars and restaurants. While the lobby and public areas seem a touch clinical, rooms are comfortingly large, bright and cheery, with swanky white-leather chairs and huge sepia-tint panoramas above the headboards.

The EDEN stands across the Neretva River at the foot of bare hills. Vivid leaf-design carpets and shades of plum-purple dominate the contemporary decor of the rooms, while many have fine views across Mostar and the countryside beyond. Yet for many guests, the spa and wellness centre (“an oasis for hedonistic pleasures”) is the focus, with a hammam, Finnish sauna, massage room, and treatment areas to exfoliate and extrude the new you.

In the heart of modern Mostar, the Mepas occupies the top floors of Mepas Mall, the largest shopping centre in the city. Close to the old town, expect modern rooms with plenty of recessed lighting, wall-sized leatherette headboards and lofty city views. Tub chairs add extra comfort. A glazed canopy crowns the heated swimming pool, there’s a large fitness centre, and wellness facilities include steam baths and infrared saunas.

The attractive whitewashed building of Hotel Old Town, with decorative wooden window frames, stands barely a minute’s walk from Stari Most, yet, being well-positioned off the main tourist strip, remains relatively quiet. Rooms are simply decorated, with cream walls and local artwork, while vividly patterned kilims colour the stripped floors. Pointed-arch motifs dominate headboards, furniture and doors to lend a low-key rustic atmosphere. One side of the property features a paved terrace with an elaborate wooden pergola – a great spot to while away your downtime.

At the end of a quiet, cobbled street, modest three-storey Villa Cardak stands among a tangle of old town houses close to Stari Most. It’s an unassuming place, with modern good-sized rooms featuring laminate floors and straightforward furniture. Although their decor varies considerably, most rooms feature an entire photo-wall illustrating, say, a sun-dappled forest or a vintage doorway.

Fronted by a casual guest car park, the Hercegovina has neat, snazzy rooms with dark, modern furniture, and sensible decor that erupts with unexpected colour – bright purple or azure – in the bathrooms, and sheeny fabrics in the bedrooms. Old-town prints on the walls help anchor the place to Mostar, and Dva Fenjera, the straightforward yet satisfying garden-restaurant, churns out traditional grills and seafood to an appreciative clientele.