Sleeping in Brussels
€1 = about $1.10, country code: 32
Hotel prices are high in central Brussels, but you do have budget options. The modern hostels are especially good and rent double rooms. Business hotels offer super summer or weekend specials, cutting as much as two-thirds off their prices. And I've found a few fine little family-run hotels with good prices. April, May, September, and October are very crowded, and finding a room without a reservation can be impossible.
Business Hotels with Summer Rates
The fancy hotels of Brussels (Db-€150–200) survive off the business and diplomatic trade. They are desperately empty in July and August (sometimes June, too) and on weekends (most Fri, Sat, and Sun nights). If you ask for a summer/weekend rate you'll save about a third. If you go through the TI, you'll save up to two-thirds. Four-star hotels in the center abound with summer rates around €70. If you're willing to sink as low as three stars, you'll probably get a double room with enough comforts to keep a diplomat happy, including a fancy breakfast, for as low as €60.
The TI assured me that every day in July and August there are tons of business-class hotel rooms on the push list. You'll get a big discount by just showing up at either TI (for same-day booking only). In July and August — trust me — your best value is to arrive without a reservation, walk from the Central Station down to either TI, and let them book you a room within a few blocks. These seasonal rates apply only to business-class hotels. Because of this, budget accommodations, which charge the same throughout the year, go from being a good value one day (say, a Thursday in summer) to a bad value the next (a Friday in summer).
Hotels near the Grand Place
$$$Hotel Ibis has six locations in or near Brussels; the best is well situated halfway between the Central Station and the Grand Place — a sprawling modern place offering 184 quiet, simple, industrial-strength-yet-comfy rooms (Sb or Db-€129 Mon–Thu, €109 Fri–Sun, Tb-€144 or €139, rooms €20 more in Sept, €20 less Jan–Feb and July–Aug, third person-€15, breakfast-€9, air-con, elevator, smoke-free rooms, Grasmarkt 100, tel. 02-514-4040, fax 02-514-5067, www.ibishotel.com, h1046@accor-hotels.com).
$$$Hotel le Dixseptième, a four-star luxury place ideally located a block below the Central Station, is an expensive oasis in the heart of town. Prim, proper, and peaceful, with chandeliers and squeaky hardwood floors, it comes with all the comforts (24 rooms, all with different themes, Db-€260, €180 in summer and on weekends depending on availability, suites €340 and up, extra bed-€30, includes breakfast and taxes, no-smoking rooms, air-con, free Internet access, elevator, rue de la Madeleine 25, tel. 02-517-1717, fax 02-502-6424, www.ledixseptieme.be).
$$Hotel la Madeleine, on the small square between the station and the Grand Place, rents 52 plain rooms with a good location and a friendly staff (S-€50, no shower at all for this room; Ss-€70, Sb-€95, Db-€105; "executive" rooms: Sb-€115, Db-€120, Tb-€135, includes breakfast, elevator, Rue de la Montagne 22, tel. 02-513-2973, fax 02-502-1350, www.hotel-la-madeleine.be). You can't check in before 15:00, but you can drop off your bags.
$$Hotel the Moon, which opened in 2002, is a concrete and efficient place with 17 fresh if industrial-strength rooms, good beds, and almost no public spaces. While it has absolutely no character, you'll sleep fine and it's super-convenient, right in the old center (Sb-€65, Db-€80, Tb-€100, includes skimpy breakfast, rue de la Montagne 4, tel. 02-508-1580, fax 02-508-1585, hotelthemoon@hotmail.com).
$$Hotel Opéra, on a great, people-filled street near the Grand Place, is professional, dark, and classy, with street noise and 49 boxy rooms (Sb-€68, Db-€85, Tb-€93, Qb-€107, 10 percent less on weekends, includes breakfast, courtyard rooms are quieter, elevator, Internet access, rue Gretry 53, tel. 02-219-4343, fax 02-219-1720, www.hotel-opera.be, hotel.opera@skynet.be).
$$Hotel Floris, with wood floors and some beamed ceilings, has 12 spacious rooms just off the Grand Place and right across from the TI (Sb-€90, Db-€100, 2-person suite-€140, third person-€30, includes breakfast, elevator, rue des Harengs 6–8, tel. 02-514-0760, fax 02-548-9039, www.grouptorus.com, floris.grandplace@grouptorus.com).
$$Mozart Hotel, lacquered in marble and antiques and filled with old paintings, offers 47 comfortable rooms for a good price on a small café-filled lane just off the Grand Place (Sb-€75, Db-€95, Tb-€125, includes breakfast, elevator, rue Marché aux Fromages 23, tel. 02-502-6661, fax 02-502-7758, www.hotel-mozart.be, hotel.mozart@skynet.be).
$$Hotel la Légende rents 26 rooms a block from the Manneken-Pis statue. While on a busy road, it has a pleasant courtyard. The furnishings are cheap, the "hardwood" panels on the floor are obviously fake, and the management is paranoid. But the location and price are right and the rooms are comfortable enough (small Db facing courtyard-€85, bigger fancier Db-€103, Tb-€129, Qb-€140, weekends are 6 percent cheaper but you must stay 2 nights, includes breakfast, elevator, rue du Lombard 35, tel. 02-512-8290, fax 02-512-3493, www.hotellalegende.com).
$Hotel Pacific is gently run by Paul Powells, whose motto is "safe, clean, and cheap." This place might close in 2004, so call ahead. While the charming breakfast room is from the 19th century, the ramshackle upstairs (with 15 backpacker rooms) feels like a Jackson Pollock thrift shop in a tree house. Even with the wrinkly linoleum and funky furnishings, Paul gives the place an enjoyable calmness (S-€35, D-€55, T-€75, prices include cheese-omelet breakfast, no CC, non-smoking rooms, elevator, 24:00 curfew, easy phone reservations, rue Antoine Dansaert 57, tel. 02-511-8459).
Hotels around the Fish Market
The next four listings are a 10-minute walk from the intensity of the old center, near the Ste. Catherine Métro stop. This charming neighborhood, called "the village in Brussels," faces the canalside fish market and has plenty of the town's best restaurants.
$$$Citadines Sainte-Catherine Apart'hotel, part of a Europe-wide chain, is a huge "apart-hotel" with modern, shipshape rooms. Choose from efficiency studios with fold-out double beds or two-room apartments with a bedroom and a fold-out couch in the living room. All 163 units come with a kitchen, stocked cupboards, a stereo, and everything you need to settle right in (studio for one or two-€140, apartment for up to four-€158, 10 percent cheaper by the week, 50 percent cheaper by the month, breakfast-€12, parking-€8, 51 quai au Bois à Bruler, tel. 02-221-1411, fax 02-221-1599, stecatherine@citadines .com).
$$Hotel Welcome, owned by a bundle of hospitality and energy named Meester Smeesters, offers small but business-class rooms. Each of the 16 rooms has a different geographic theme — from India to Japan to Bali (prices are the same for 1 or 2 people: Db-€70, "business-class" Africa Db-€80, "executive-class" Db-€100, "junior suite" Egypt Db with view-€120, large suite-€130, extra bed-€13, breakfast-€10, elevator, parking-€10, 23 Quai au Bois à Bruler, tel. 02-219-9546, fax 02-217-1887, www.hotelwelcome.com, reservation@hotelwelcome.com, run by Sophie and Michael Smeesters with the assistance of Vanessa). Guests get a 5 percent discount at the pricey attached restaurant, La Truite d'Argent.
$$Hotel Noga feels extremely homey with a welcoming game room and old photos of Belgian royalty lining the hallways. It's carefully run by Frederich Fouchon and his family (19 rooms, Sb-€79, Db-€99, Tb-€125, Qb-€150, all rooms 20 percent less on weekends and every day in Aug, includes breakfast, very quiet, rue du Beguinage 38, tel. 02-218-6763, fax 02-218-1603, www.nogahotel.com, info@nogahotel.com).
$Résidence les Ecrins, on a quiet street, is a friendly guesthouse run by helpful Alain and Edward. Its 11 cheery, pastel rooms have simple furnishings (Sb-€45–70, Db-€50–80, Tb-€60–90, all double beds, includes breakfast, no elevator, rue du Rouleau 15, tel. 02-219-3657, fax 02-223-5740, www.lesecrins.com, les.ecrins@skynet.be).
Hostels
Three classy and modern hostels, in buildings that could double as small, state-of-the-art, minimum-security prisons, are within a 10-minute walk of the Central Station. Each accepts people of all ages, serves cheap hot meals, takes credit cards, and charges about the same price. All rates include breakfast and showers down the hall.
Brueghel Hostel, a fortress of cleanliness, is handiest and most comfortable. Of its many rooms, 22 are bunk-bed doubles (S-€25, D-€40, beds in quads-€16.75, beds in bigger dorms-€16.75, nonmembers-€3 extra per night, open 7:00–10:00 & 14:00–24:00, rue de St. Esprit 2, midway between Midi and Central Stations, behind Chapelle church, tel. 02-511-0436, fax 02-512-0711, www.vjh.be, brussel@vjh.be).
Sleepwell, surrounded by high-rise parking lots, is also comfortable (S-€25, D-€38, T-€19 per person, €12–15 for beds in larger rooms, non-smoking, Internet access, walking tours-€2.50/person, Rue de Damier 23, tel. 02-218-5050, fax 02-218-1313, www.sleepwell.be, info@sleepwell.be).
Jacques Brel is a little farther out but still a reasonable walk from everything (180 beds, S-€23, D-€38, T/Q-€15 per person, bed in dorm-€13, includes breakfast and sheets, no curfew, non-smoking rooms, laundry available, rue de la Sablonnière 30, tel. 02-218-0187, fax 02-217-2005, www.laj.be, brusselsbrel@laj.be).