Mmm - not sure about this place!

Went on a long day trip with friend. Arrived an hour early (good you may think but not when that means quarter to four in the morning at the gare du nord or whatever which doesn't open (including loos) until at least half six and is bloody freezing. At least the tramps there were cosy in their sleeping bags! Coming out of the station was amazed at the modern buildings - quite a business area - and also at the huge amount of English spoken and written - lots of places have written names. Impressed that my free drink card from Macdonalds was accepted!!! but will say it was pretty expensive to buy anything. Bog standard bottle of wine in a shop - 12 euros - ham and cheese toastie in the grand place (their equivalent of covent garden sort of) 8 euros!!!! Mind, found stunning pasta place on a side stree of Rue de Neuve - can't remember name but just up from an Irish pub you can see from the main street. Miserable so'n'sos in the Hotel Metropole where you did some people watching with a glass of wine but when we sat inside kept getting dirty looks as we sat there drinking slowly (true, we were dragging time out cos not leaving til quarter to eleven at night, but we were buying!). Filming going on there so that was interesting. Chocolate shops are absolutely amazing but look around cos some are mass produced and others are stunningly hand made. Nice waffles next to the mannequin pis and and a fab pub diagonally opposite from that with a roaring fire and interesting deccies! I tried speaking french and that seemed to be OK although they clearly like speaking English, but I have been warned in certain parts of Belgium, they don't like French spoken - think they prefer Flemish. Anyway, it's a big place and would have liked more time but cos it was a day trip was too knackered! Wouldn't rush back though - fancy Bruges cos it looks much prettier but that could be just me missing places as it was my first visit - apparently there's an old Brussels - who knew!!!

Last Visit: March 2009

22 March 2009 | A Yahoo! User

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Grand Place

We booked our trip to Brussels through Euro Star's website for 3 nights accommodation plus train £162 each for New Years Eve. Very satisfied with the Euro Star in Brussels and with Radisson Hotel. Very friendly staff, great room, and excellent service. Drinks are expensive from the hotel bar. Celebrations are very low key at the end of December, breakfast was 25 Euro's each at the hotel however there are lots of places to choose from near by for coffee and croissants.

Great for: History/Culture

Last Visit: December 2007

20 January 2008 | A Yahoo! User

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HORRIBLE 2GO4 HOSTEL!!!!

What a horrible experience for our first visit to Brussels. Thought this was a reputable establishment, NOT!! We were "checked" into a PRIVATE room while bathroom renovation was still going on in the room for the two days we were staying here. Staff was rude and unaccommodating. With ONE knock of our PRIVATE room they entered our room with their master keycard. WTF?!?! We would NOT recommend anyone to stay here.

Last Visit: October 2007

10 October 2007 | A Yahoo! User

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not safe

I was there just for a day, so did not get a chnace to see much, but the station was not very clean, there were drunk people running around and it did not seem very safe in general. However, the buildings have an old-world charm and there are a lot of small botique shops. A nice change from the hectic life in London. Not expensive.

Great for: Budget Travel

14 June 2007 | A Yahoo! User

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Something for the Weekend

We went over in a weekend in May on Eurostar where we booked a week before. The major plus is that it is cheap and easy to get there from London. Brussels is fairly small and will take about a day to walk round. But city is very historic with magical views of the grand place square when the lights come on at night. Food was fine and the beers strong. Belgiums is famous for the chocolates, beer, mussels and frites - but be adventurous and try the raw beef salad or traditional stew waterzooi. Obvious landmarks are always busy - Manneqin Pis, Grand Place, but all in all you can't fault Brussels being a stress free, cheap weekend away.

Great for: History/Culture, Budget Travel

Last Visit: may 2006

25 August 2006 | A Yahoo! User

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le meridien hotel 5 star rip off

i was wanting to stay in brussels again, however i have changed my mind. before i checked out i was definitely going to return here. but during my check out we were charged an extortionate amount of money for breakfast, (£25 per person per day)my guests questioned this and were told by the rude reception staff 'what do you expect if you book on the internet'. i found this embarassing to say the least and was not impressed by my treatment from the hotel staff. i had only recently suffered a stroke and the staff implied that i was stupid. i have had no satisfaction from my complaints to the hotel or expedia. the only rating i can give this hotel and expedia is that of 5 stars for rip off and 5 stars for their marketing ploy.

Last Visit: December 2005

21 May 2006 | A Yahoo! User

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Brussels weekend visit

On the whole Brussels was nice, it rained all day, but make sure you go to the hotel before the sites, in case of any internet confusion. Food was good, shopping on a Thursday is rubbish, as most shops are shut.

1 October 2005 | A Yahoo! User

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Best of Belgium

Of all the places we visited in Belgium, Brussels was the best. It was more cosmopolitan than Antwerp, which came across as very intense. And although it has numerous places of interest to visit, Brussels wasn't as touristy as Brugge or Blankenberge. The people were very friendly and Brussels is the place I would visit, if I was ever going to Belgium again.

Last Visit: july 2005

28 September 2005 | A Yahoo! User

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I love this city!

I spent three months working in Brussels over the summer and I absolutely adored the city. The food is some of the best I have ever had in my life--great value, excellent quality, big portions. Brussels has an abundance of attractions (although they are spread out)for visitors to see (my personal favorites were the Horta House, the Grand Place, and the Atomium!), but it is also a wonderful destination because of its vacinity to other major European cities. I easily made weekend visits to Brugges, Ghent, Namur, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris, Luxembourg and Trier. It does rain quite a bit in Belgium, and I saw at least one rainstorm a week even during the summer. Another disadvantage to Brussels for a traveler is that even though I would certainly consider it a major European city, the pace there is much more laid back than I was used to as an American. I really enjoyed this change, but it could be an inconvience. Most store close around 6pm on weekdays and many stores are not open at all on weekends, which made it difficult for me because I was working as well. I would keep these things in mind when traveling to Brussels. Pack for rain, get an early start on the day because things close in the early evening, utilize public transportation as much as possible (the metro is excellent in Brussels), and enjoy the food!! Don't miss the Grand Place, Parc du Cinquantennaire, Palais du Justice or EU Headquarters!

5 June 2005 | A Yahoo! User

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Unpleasant experience with Hotel La Madeleine

It took me quite a while to calm down to put my anger into writing. My wife and I planned a traveling to Belgium and after a time-consuming choosing finally I booked a room in Hotel La Madeleine in Brussels via an internet hotel booking system. In the first place, the booking was made without any credit card number, but to secure a room, again I booked a room in the same hotel on the same day. And consequently the previous reservation was canceled. After a rather tough day when we visited 3 major cities in Belgium, fairly tired and hungry, we arrived at Hotel La Madeleine and simply wanted the room we booked, then the terrible thing just happened: the hotel reception first admitted my reservation but then he told me that I already cancelled it and there was nothing for us. It was really a shock! I explained that I did cancel the previous booking but NOT the final one with the credit card number. To make sure who should take the responsibility for it, I asked him to check the according booking number in the cancellation page and compare with the booking number of the reservation with credit card. I also showed him the printed confirmation e-mail I took with me that clearly stated everything about my reservation with credit card. But he simply refused to do that and said what he could offer us was a single room without any toilet or bath facility with a rate that was exactly the same as the one for my reservation for a double room (incl. breakfast). I insisted his examining the cancellation more carefully. Finally, he admitted that the hotel made a mistake, but his attitude was just getting unbelievably rude: he teased me by saying 'why didn't you called me and directly book a room with me rather than via a hotel reservation company... This is not your country, you can not just get what you want...you can only choose to stay here in a single room or just get out of here with nothing...if you still stand here I will call the police!!!!' We were really irrigated by this bloodily ugly offense. We asked about talking with his manager. Ridiculously, his answer was we were speaking with the hotel manager now! After that, he left us aside and dealt with other guests. Just discovering it was no use to make any sense from such a man, we left this hotel really without anything - NO respect at least, NO favor to this city. It was after 9 pm and we were wondering in the street. After several "fully booked" answers by other hotels we just realized it was impossible to find a proper room in such a holiday weekend. Extremely frustrated and hungry, we took the last train back home in the Netherlands and arrived home after 1 am in the chilly morning...

5 June 2005 | A Yahoo! User

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