Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Place

Hotel description

If the thought of an old-world grand hotel in Brussels doesn’t exactly get your heart racing, you’re not alone. This town’s hotels, even the best ones, are a notoriously sober lot, especially at the high end. But overlook the Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Place and you’ll miss out on a hidden cache of bona fide modern Belgian design.

The great majority of the rooms, from humble standards on up to the Royal Suite, are classic in style, conservative but impeccably tasteful — think of them as something along the lines of an expensive tailored suit. Certainly nothing at all to complain about. The unexpected part comes in the form of the Royal Windsor’s twelve “fashion rooms,” each one conceived by a different Belgian fashion designer. This is the couture collection to the rest of the hotel’s classic menswear. They’re too eclectic to fully describe here, but they’re as well-equipped as the rest of the hotel, and stylistically unforgettable to boot.

It’s the best of both worlds. Despite our joshing, the luxury hotels of Brussels certainly do know how to run a tight ship, and the Royal Windsor is no exception. And if you can have one-of-a-kind designer style along with the services and luxuries of a European-capital grand hotel — well, why are you still sitting there reading this?