Staying in the City Center

· Hotel Amigo:This hotel is part of the Rocco Forte hotel collection. Not an extremely well-known group in the US but it's a collection started by Sir Rocco Forte, great individual luxe properties that combine modern aesthetic with history (Le Richemond in Geneva, Brown's in London among others).

Hotel Amigo is located right behind the Grand Place, the central square of Brussels. Beautifully restored, very clean design. Bocconi is a well regarded Italian restaurant.

The location gives you the city action right outside your door, but that also means every tour bus group on their way from the Grand Place to famous Manneke Pis will shuffle past the hotel entrance.

Still, definitely high on the list of best hotels in Brussels.

· The Royal Windsor:A member of the Leading Hotels of the World, the hotel's a block or so away from the Amigo and is also a solid option. It feels a little more "corporate" overall I would say. There is however a small selection of rooms done by Belgian fashion designers, which is an interesting initiative.

· Le Dixseptième A much smaller hotel (pictured at right) just around the corner from the above hotels. Very Bruxellois, classic decor.

Staying on Avenue Louise

· Conrad Brussels: Just south of the city center, Avenue Louise is where you will find high-end shops by all the big names, and for a lot of people, the best hotel in the city - the Conrad.

Favored by VIPs, important EU delegations, and Middle Eastern oil money, this hotel is quite different from the Asian Conrad hotels. This is full blown glitz luxury in a dark-mahogany-wood, polished-marble-lobby, Louis-Vuitton-carrying, fur-wearing, Aston Martin/Ferrari/Bentley-driving clientele kind of way.

We don't quite know how to put it into words, but it has a little more pomp and bravura than say, in Singapore or Hong Kong. The extravaganza around Christmas, complete with courtyard ice-skating rink, says enough.

· The Sofitel:Pretty close to the Conrad used to be the Sofitel Toison d'Or, which wasn't anything spectacular, but is currently being transformed into a 'new hotel experience by Sofitel' according to the signs outside.

Staying near the EU Parliament

This area is going through a revival because of the Parliament, the institutions, and all the people that work there looking for a place to live and trendy places to eat and drink.

· Renaissance Hotel: Just off of Place de Luxembourg you have the Renaissance, sister hotel to the Marriott in the city center (the latter having the inexplicable McDonalds next to the lobby). A decent hotel, but is a bit blah, for lack of a better word. Kind of chunky, heavy-set furniture and design. We had a less than stellar experience, complete with holes in the towels, several days in a row.

· Radisson SAS EU

Right next door is the Radisson SAS EU, sister hotel to the Radisson SAS Royal in the city center (the latter has a huge internal atrium, be aware that a lot of the rooms overlook this atrium). The Radisson is better-looking than Renaissance thanks to its modern design. The rooms, while not much bigger, seem more spacious and lighter.

Service at both hotels is good, although we have heard the occasional complaint of it being a little lackluster - perhaps the problem of any hotel that is guaranteed a steady stream of expense account guests.

[Photo: BabyWalrus]

· Sofitel Europe: A five minute walk from the parliament is the Sofitel Europe on Place Jourdan. The Brussels Europe property follows the good-looking design policy that Sofitel has been adopting as of late (They are currently doing a reshuffling and repositioning to get rid of some of the less than stellar properties).  This hotel is very sophisticated with great beds, colors, materials.

However, a design flaw that you see in more and more hotels - the wall between the room and the bathroom is made of opaque glass. Kudos to designers for leaving that bland old hotel room design behind, and the opaque glass fits into the whole voyeurism/exhibitionism trend that seems to be all the rage now (Lion-claw-footed bathtub in the middle of the room anyone?) It also means that when one person turns on the light at night, the whole room is ablaze, waking your (travel) partner in one go. Not very practical.

While the hotel is very nice, it might not be ideally suited for first time visitors, as you are a serious half hour hike away from the city center.

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