Belgrade Design Hotel: Radisson Blu Old Mill

Those of you who follow me along on Instagram know it anyway: I spent the last five days in Serbia’s capital Belgrade. This European city is a real insider tip: it is buzzing with life, both during day and night, it has some amazing cafés, bars, restaurants, wild clubs, lots of green areas, cool shops – and a fantastic design hotel called Radisson Blu Old Mill. And the name is not just an invention – the hotel’s main building is located in a beautifully restored old mill that is an architectural landmark of Belgrade.

The Radisson Blu Old Mill hotel is truly a fantastic choice for anyone traveling to Belgrade. The hotel consists of the old, main building which used to be a mill and two modern towers. The entire hotel was designed by the Berlin based architectural studio GRAFT that put a lot of thought and consideration into the design of the 4 star hotel in Belgrade: the wavy shapes of the lobby and other public areas reflect the rivers Sava and Danube winding their ways through Belgrade, the various shades of white reference the name of Belgrade meaning ‘White City’ and the use of copper as an accent material hints to Serbia’s history as one of the main copper producer in medieval times. The use of these heterogenic materials contrasts the old brick wall from the mill and even the signage and font of the hotel has been carefully designed in order to set a visual link to the building’s original function as a wheat mill. It is a design hotel from A to Z if you want so.

Staying at the Radisson Blu Old Mill hotel is not only about marveling and pondering the design. It is also about enjoying your spacious and comfy rooms and a fabulous breakfast, lunch and dinner in the OMB Larder + Lounge restaurant (including traditional Serbian BBQ in the courtyard sometimes). This summer the hotel uses its courtyard for leisurely drinks as well – a beach bar including fine sand next to the water fountain sets a tropical background for cool and relaxed drinks. I was also lucky enough to be in the hotel while the artist Jeannine Platz was painting one of her ‘Suite View’ paintings, an international art project where she paints the view from different suites in hotels around the globe. And the crazy thing: she creates those painting in two days!

I really loved everything I mentioned before – but what really made the cut for myself was the impeccable service in the hotel. Absolutely helpful and friendly personnel was a constant factor from my check-in moment to the check-out. I truly hope to be back to this hotel soon as it is a perfect base to discover Belgrade. And boy can you discover the city!! Stay tuned for my personal Belgrade travel guide soon on the blog!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

This blog post is a collaboration with Radisson Blu Hotels. I was invited to stay in their wonderful Belgrade hotel but the opinion is my very own based on what I experienced while staying there.