Hotel Podgorica

Rooms and decor

The hotel has just 44 rooms, so the feel is warm and boutique rather than a big, crowded property. After the latest renovation the rooms look much more current — warm tones, clean wood furniture, soft beds of the kind you actually sink into, tidy bathrooms with everything you need, and smooth Wi-Fi throughout the building. The surprise is in the walls: the hotel deliberately kept the original 1967 stone walls in many rooms, so you wake up and can run your hand over real river stone. Some rooms have a river-facing balcony — open the door and you get clear blue-green water and the boulders on the bank, sometimes with a thin morning mist over the river that looks like a watercolour. One quiet tip: if you can book a river-view room, do it; it is the best value for the money here. Light sleepers should ask for a higher floor, since the riverside terrace runs late in summer.

Food and amenities

Breakfast is cooked to order, and there is a riverside restaurant and a terrace bar where you can sit out over the water. Free parking, a 24-hour front desk and free Wi-Fi across the building round out the basics. Be clear on what this place is, though: there is no indoor pool and the spa is small. If you want full resort-style wellness you will need to look elsewhere — Hotel Podgorica leans on its story, its architecture and the riverside mood rather than a long amenity list. That trade is the whole point, and at this price it is a fair one.

Location and getting there

Hotel Podgorica sits on the Preko Morače side — "across the Morača" — which is the quieter, prettier side compared with the modern city centre. The draw is that a few minutes' walk takes you over the bridge into the old town of Stara Varoš, the quarter that still holds its Ottoman feel: the centuries-old Sahat Kula clock tower, old mosques, and narrow stone lanes hiding local restaurants and small cafés. South of the hotel is the Morača sports hall, one of the city's landmarks — basketball and handball fans know Montenegro's national teams play there. Getting around is easy: Podgorica airport (TGD) is about a 15-minute drive south, and the train station is close too, roughly a 10-minute drive. It works well if you are using Podgorica as a hub to push on to Kotor, Budva or into Albania.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. First, most rooms are not as wide as a new-build hotel — this is a boutique building designed back in 1967, so the rooms run fairly compact by today's standards. Anyone expecting a large suite or a generous footprint may find them a touch snug, though for the price it is more than fair. Second, noise from the riverside terrace: the hotel's restaurant and bar stay open late in summer, and the clink of glasses, conversation and soft music can drift up to the lower floors. Light sleepers should ask for a higher floor or a room away from the terrace when booking. Third, there is no indoor pool and the spa is small, so resort-level wellness is not the draw here. Finally, on some winter nights the heating works hard enough to make a faint sound — not disruptive, but a few reviews mention it.

Our take

After reading through real guest reviews and several architecture pieces, Hotel Podgorica is a place that sells "historic building plus riverside spot plus genuine value" in a city where charming hotels are not easy to find. If you are the kind of traveller who loves the story of an old building, modernist-era architecture, and a quiet riverside setting where you wake up to clear water in the middle of the city, then a night inside Svetlana Kana Radević's national-award-winning work is the sort of thing that stays with you long after the Montenegro trip is over. If you want big luxurious rooms, a large pool and a full set of 5-star amenities, this may not be the closest fit. Overall we give it 8.6/10 — best for couples, culture-minded travellers, and anyone using Podgorica as a hub to head onward, at a price that is almost enviable next to boutique 4-stars in other European capitals.