The Best Hotels in Mostar, Bosnia, for Every Traveller

The Balkan setting of Mostar offers old town charm | © robertharding / Alamy Stock Photo

2 March 2021

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The Stari Most, an iconic 450-year-old bridge, defines this Bosnian city; Mostar’s name is derived from the medieval bridge-keepers, or mostari, who once guarded it. If you’re planning a visit to the unofficial capital of Herzegovina, here are the best hotels.

City Hotel Mostar

Courtesy of City Hotel Mostar / Expedia

Staying adjacent to the city bus station might not fill everyone’s sails, but if instant onward transport is your thing, then City Hotel’s the place. A spacious lobby (with airport-style massage chairs and a drinks-vending machine) belies comfortable and stylishly minimalist rooms featuring large Old Mostar photographs above the beds and mustard-yellow marble in the bathrooms. The U-shaped complex includes a small indoor pool, gym, spa and beauty salon.

Hotel Mepas

Courtesy of Hotel Mepas / Expedia

If you’re opting for a shopping binge in Mepas Mall, you might want to recover in its top-floor hotel. Found in the heart of the city, beside the old quarter, Hotel Mepas offers spacious contemporary rooms with tub chairs and white leatherette headboards. You have complimentary access to the spa and relaxation centre, which includes an indoor pool, steam baths, infrared saunas, a gym and something called a “shower of pleasure.”

Motel Sinan Han

Courtesy of Motel Sinan Han / Expedia

In the old town just metres from the pretty river, Sinan Han has an almost rustic simplicity aimed at budget travellers. Rooms are compact, and some feature wall kilims and faux-masonry walls, but they’ve all got TVs and private bathrooms. However, you’ll probably spend more time here admiring the old town views from either of the two cafe-bar terraces.

Hotel Almira

Courtesy of Hotel Almira / Expedia

Hotel Almira’s simple pine-furniture rooms, with an almost Greek-Mediterranean feel, have easygoing guests in mind. It’s a small family-run property standing on what was once an apricot orchard; plenty of trees and gardens still stand between the hotel terrace and the river beyond, lending appealing views from some windows and balconies. The restaurant features plenty of grills and roasts along with freshwater fish and lays out a good spread for breakfast.

Hotel Kapetanovina

Courtesy of Hotel Kapetanovina / Expedia

The contemporary, boxy Kapetanovina will appeal to those with artistic leanings – not for its plain facade, but for the abstract paintings in the rooms, in which bold streaks of blue, grey and white echo Mostar’s River Neretva. The picturesque old town location, just a few minutes’ walk from the iconic bridge, could inspire your inner artist, while keen photographers might aim for the one room with a large terrace-like balcony, where you can enjoy views across myriad rooftops.

Eden Hotel and Spa

Tiled loungers in the spa at Eden Hotel & Spa in Mostar

Courtesy of Eden Hotel and Spa / Expedia

While the small indoor pool at Eden has fetching city and valley views through open veranda windows, it’s the spa, wellness and beauty centre that really draws a clientele. Their “Mostar makeover” embraces masseurs, a Finnish sauna, a Turkish hammam and an array of facial and body treatments. Rooms are straightforwardly modern and uncluttered with photographs depicting close-up architectural details.

Hotel Emen

Courtesy of Hotel Emen / Expedia

Situated on one of the main pedestrianised roads leading straight to Stari Most, the cosy Emen is for those who embrace Mostar’s hearty tourist scene. Surrounded by souvenir shops and craft boutiques (including an organic products outlet on the ground floor of the hotel), it has two upper storeys with simple, neat rooms with stripped wooden floors and modest furnishings. The partly al fresco, street-facing restaurant draws a sizeable crowd, especially for dinner, so you might want to retreat to the quieter upstairs hotel terrace post-meal.

Hotel Hercegovina

Courtesy of Hotel Hercegovina / Expedia

On the main road a few kilometres south of Mostar, Hotel Hercegovina initially resembles a pit-stop hotel, one neither set in an appealingly remote countryside nor steeped in twee old town-ness. But places like this often have to work harder, and accommodation – modern rooms and apartments in shades of silver, pewter and brown with large sepia old town prints – is more inviting than suggested by the exterior. There’s a free shuttle service into town, and the popular Dva Fenjera garden-restaurant is a great place for traditional grills and seafood.

Old Town Boutique Hotel

Courtesy of Old Town Boutique Hotel / Expedia

Just off the main drag leading directly to the famous bridge, this hotel is a low-key blend of practical comfort with a heritage vibe. The luridly lit lobby and dining room – plenty of neon blue and golden yellow – suggest things could go awry upstairs. Yet, simply furnished rooms have a pleasingly rustic feel with stripped kilim-strewn floors and decorative wooden mouldings gracing window frames and balcony doors. The garden features a striking wooden pergola, with a decorative lantern suspended from an open-ribbed dome.

Motel Deny

Courtesy of Motel Deny / Expedia

Tucked away in the old quarter overlooking Crooked Bridge, a diminutive near-facsimile of Stari Most, Deny features compact, sparingly furnished rooms for unpretentious travellers. Some have fetching views, looking across brick-red tiled roofs and minarets to the rugged hills beyond. There’s a small breakfast room and cafe, and the top-floor, one-bed apartment with arched windows offers a notable upgrade in decor, comfort and views.

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