Struga Riverview Hotel

I had a wonderful time at this hotel; the cleanliness and service were simply excellent!

Awesome location!!

Very clean and the staff were really kind

The location is good on the footpath along the attractive Black Drim river. The hotel is family owned and they were pleasant to us. There is no catering in the hotel but a reasonable restaurant next door, not Indian but called the Taj Mahal. Our first two evenings were very wet so my senior friend didn't want to go out. The young man on reception fetched the menus and arranged delivery of food from next door. WiFi worked fine and was free. The beds were comfortable and once we learnt how to switch the A/C to warm, the room could be heated, there was unseasonal snow on the mountains. Our second room had a balcony and a view over the river.

We hadn't realised that 1st October was the end of the summer season, several surrounding bars and cafes were shut and the hotel had few staff. This hotel may feel quite different in high summer. I make this review in the knowledge that we paid about 44 Euro a night and that maybe standards in North Macedonia are not the same as in a Western European hotel. We chose a hotel instead of an apartment for the basic room service, towels changed, beds made etc. There was no room service unless we requested. The electronic room keys kept failing and we got briefly stuck in the lift once. Our first room looked over the back of the hotel and was in a poor decorative state, it felt miserable. Reviews referred to redecoration being complete? We were kindly moved to a front facing room and informed it would be smaller which it was with hardly any space to put anything, but it felt more cheerful. We were puzzled by the common practice there of having a double bed and a single bed which takes up a lot of space. Despite bad weather, doors to the public areas were left open, maybe to clear cigarette smoke, smoking in bars and restaurants despite signage was a big issue for us. Another, perhaps Eastern issue for my friend who has reduced mobility was steps everywhere including from the car park. We appreciated that the family owners of the Riverview are making efforts. but we wouldn't return.