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Just The Sort Of Welcome Note You Don't Want To Find In Your Hotel

Where: Hoogstraat 6, Bruges, Belgium, B-8000

Not the kind of thing you want to see in the information kit in your hotel room: a notice informing you that mosquito nets are available at the front desk.

What makes it worse is that this wasn’t the steamy South, or somewhere exotic. This was our hotel room in Belgium. Bruges may be the prettiest town in Belgium, but even that won’t swing it a get out of jail pass when it comes to mosquitoes.

Luckily, we’ve just emerged unscathed after three days at the Grand Hotel Casselbergh, so it appears the hotel may just be being a little protective of its guests. Better safe than sorry, though.

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Visiting the Infamous Hotel from the Movie 'In Bruges'

The hotel is the two matching wood facades over the canal

At this very moment—believe it or not—we are in Bruges, and no not because of the tourist rush that the Colin Farrell/Ralph Fiennes movie "In Bruges" brought. We've just always wanted to head to the "Venice of the north," as the town is called, but while here we can't simply ignore the now-famous sites around town that became almost another character in the movie on their own.

One such spot is the hotel in which the main hitman characters Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) are put up by their boss, Harry (Fiennes). In the movie, it's passed off as a quaint, home-run bed and breakfast, but in reality it's the 4-star hotel Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce. It's here that the characters ponder death, reveal secrets, and even one of them jumps from his room window into the freezing canal below.

Another picture and what we found, after the jump!

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No More Creepy Couples Massages at the Kempinski Dukes Palace

Where: Prinsenhof 8, Bruges, Belgium, 8000

We’ve been itching to go to the fabulous-looking Kempinksi Dukes’ Palace in a 15th-century castle in Bruges since it opened, and every time we hear some more news about it, we get closer to opening up our wallets. This time it’s the new spa menu taking our fancy.

It’s using the French Thalgo line (nice) for some pretty well-priced treatments including a Detox (scrub, detox gel, sauna and massage, €85) for after you've gone overboard on the local chocolate, and the cozy-sounding Mother’s Cocoon (massage, facial and foot treatment, €140) for the preggers among you.

Best of all, they’re making an admirable break from the creepy couple’s massage – their Harmony for Two treatment (€120) is being sold to "mothers and daughters or friends".

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A Boxing Day Vow: Next Christmas, A Luxury Hotel in Bruges

Where: Wollestraat 41-47, Bruges, Belgium, 8000

Guess what Monica Guy was doing yesterday on Boxing Day? Yup. Fantasizing about hotels....

It's Boxing Day and you're wishing you'd gone away for Christmas. The turkey-smeared plates are piled up in the sink and you are feeling the after-effects of Aunty Jean's home-made concrete mince pies and knock-out Christmas pud. (Or is it just the English who inflict these Christmas "treats" upon each other?)

Either way, you've vowed you won't be messing around with Christmas at home again - you're on the internet checking out Christmas hotels for next year.

Bruges, Belgium is possibly the sweetest Christmas city in Europe. Okay, so it's cold...but you might get snow and at least it's small and cosy enough to stroll around. The Christmas market in the main square is a mulled wine and roasted chestnuts extravaganza. Perfect.

If you can spell the name, stay in the 4-star Hotel Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce.

It's not the most well-known hotel in Bruges or even the most classic - for that you'll want the equally bizarrely-spelt Hotel Tuilerieen. But that's about to change - the RBC's got a starring role in the forthcoming black comedy In Bruges featuring Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell. After March 2008, you'll be able to say, "Well, I was there before it was famous..."

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Valentine's Day Hotels / Hotel Packages / Belgium Hotel Reviews / → All Tags

Valentine's Day Hotel Packages: Hotel Heritage

Where: 11 Niklaas Desparsstraat, Bruges, Belgium, 8000

Valentine's Day is a month away and if you want to impress your significant lover with a spectacular hotel stay, then you better get cracking. Luckily, we will make your job a little easier by featuring some hotel packages that we have heard about this week. Any tips or questions about how to romance your lover in a hotel (not sexually of course), send 'em our way and we'll do our best to answer them.

The Hotel Heritage in Bruges may not have an exotic Valentine's day package with erotic cooking but they are counting on the charm of Europe to set the romantic tone. From their Valentine Package description?

What would you think about strolling along the Canals, being carried around the medieval centre or to enjoy the first ray of sunshine at the Park of the Lake of Love? This doesn't sound so bad? Forget the world for a while and come to enjoy the magic of Bruges! It has been said a million times before: Bruges and romance are an everlasting match!!

The very enthusiastic package includes up to three nights accommodations, breakfast buffet, a horse-drawn carriage through the heart of town, a box of Godiva chocolates, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, a teddy bear holding a red heart with "I Love You" embroidered on it (seriously) and tourist information. And an added touch, the hotel keeps little cupid statues in the bathroom.

Rooms start at 163 Euros for a stay during the week and start at 171 Euros for a weekend stay.

Related Stories:
· Hotel Heritage: Blogger in the Belfry [HotelChatter]