Hotel Zlatibor in Uzice.
If you are interested in old hotels that are stuck in time and do not mind that it’s falling apart, then Hotel Zlatibor in Ucize is a fantastic hotel.
Uzice is a little visited town in southern Serbia. It’s a fairly industrial town, but it has a very pretty setting in a valley that makes the town quite attractive anyway, if you ask me. Tourists from around the world has not discovered that yet though. I did not meet a single foreign tourist when I was there last week.
I liked Uzice.
And right in the center of Uzice, you have a massive hotel dominating the skyline. The name of the place is Hotel Zlatibor. It’s an old fashioned hotel from the communist era. It’s very oversized and was clearly a showpiece from the government when it was build, back in the day. These days it’s in total decay though and many of the floors are abandoned at the moment. Amazingly enough, the hotel still manges to function as a hotel. It seems survive on wedding parties, as they have a ballroom downstairs that is in fairly good condition. There was also a big Serbian wedding party when I was there. I found it quite funny to see the wedding party arrive, with all the young women dressed up the way only Slavic girls can do. And then all these stunning beauties walked in to this giant concrete ruin to party.
The reception at Hotel Zlatibor.
As I mentioned before, the place is in serious decay. But I have to give them that they get the best out of it. I had a room at the hotel that cost me 17€ per night. My bed was not fancy. It kinda looked like a hospital bed. But it was clean and some of the taps in the bathroom worked and some of the lightbulbs were functioning too. But the place is right out of the 1970’s with old orange telephones in the room and brown wall carpet in the corridors. And since barely anything has been done to the place since 1991, it’s all falling apart. Very surprisingly, my room on the 11th floor had very well functioning wifi, so a bit of modernity has sneaked in to Hotel Zlatibor. And the receptionist was the most wonderful lady, who seemed very happy that a foreign tourist had found his way to the old hotel. She spoke good english and made me feel extremely welcome. I noticed that I was the only person in the reservations book. So I was most likely the only hotel guest who was not there for the wedding party.
My room at Hotel Zlatibor.
So if you can live wth a hotel with old sticky brown carpets. Running water and electricity that is not always there. And the slowest elevator on planet earth. Then Hotel Zlatibor is really worth a visit. It’s certainly not a hotel for everyone, but some people will like me, will just love to walk in to this communist Yugoslavia time piece. Be ware that the hotel can not be booked through any booking sites. You have to contact them directly yourself.
The address of the hotel is:
Hotel Zlatibor
Omladinska, Uzice, Serbia.
Phone:+381 31 516188
Brown wall carpet in the corridors.
Some of the floors in the hotel are not being used.
The hotel is right out of the 1970’s.
sadly you wont get a room here now…visited in early September 2018….its all shut down apart from a few offices on the lower floors
Oh bollocks. I’m doing a touring holiday of soviet brutalism of “old Yugoslavia” and was hoping to stay there (if only to acquire one of those funky orange telephones). I’ll have to make do with Belgrade.
ik was op vakantie vorig jaar (ook in servie) ik reed op een scooter rond en er stond een vuilnisbak langs de weg met een doos erlangs..wat zat erin? zo’n oude rode telefoon! haha en hij deed het nog,blijkbaar had iemand er genoeg van haha echt gebeurd in rozanstvo 15km van uzice servie
Just returned from Užice – May 2019. We stayed at the hotel – reminded me of good old days in Yugoslavia, when we were young 🙂 My wife didn’t like the idea at first but then changed her mind. We liked It after all and … would not mind coming again … really like Serbia for its pictoresque nature and orthodox monasteries …
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There’s a hotel in Los Angeles that charges $200/night for a similar super 70s decor, the Garland. It is, by contrast, immaculate.
Another great tip, Claus, I’d love to stay here if it is still open which apparently may not be the case.