The Best Art and Culture Hotels in Brussels

A grand 17th-century staircase with carved wooden bannisters winds up through the centre of this mansion on cobbled Rue de la Madeleine. There is a gothic church across the road, a gallery a few doors down and the landscaped Mont des Arts, with its gardens and museums, at the end of the road. Features like original parquet floors and fireplaces, a private terrace, ivy-curtained patio and brick-vaulted sitting area make the bedrooms distinctive while contemporary paintings hang near the open fire in the bar and cabinets full of antique porcelain line the walls of the lounge.

Photographed paint pots and extracts from prismatic charts are a recurring feature in the vivid décor for this modern block, commissioned by colour company Pantone. Designer Michael Penneman, who won several awards for his work here, has created a customisable lobby and a different palette for each of the seven floors. Behind the futon-style beds, one striking paint-based work of art fills each of the 60 bedroom walls. The classy boutiques of Avenue Louise are at the end of the road if you’re not distracted on the way by art galleries like Theorema, with cutting-edge Greek and other European works on display almost next door to the hotel.

Every room is different at the creeper-coated 20th-century Hotel Manos on Chaussée de Charleroi, but they all channel the opulent styles of Louis XV and Louis XVI with antique furniture, opulent upholstery and touches of gold. Sip aromatic cocktails or eat Belgian chocolate mousse on the leafy terrace by the fountain or inside the Kolya restaurant under a glass roof and ostrich-egg chandelier. There’s an oriental flavour to the elegant spa, with its scalloped arches, ornamental tilework and filigree-laced lantern and, when you can tear yourself away, the Horta Museum, with its art nouveau stained glass and swirling mosaics, is but a 10-minute stroll away.

Faux-fur cushions and swirling psychedelic wallpaper in the bedrooms, a silver Airstream caravan for glamping in the courtyard and mushroom-shaped polycarbonate lamps set the scene for a distinctive look in this 1970s-themed hotel. There are vinyl records serenading you at breakfast and a vintage motorbike on the balcony. But that doesn’t mean your stay can’t have 21st-century levels of comfort, so there are also plasma screens and power showers, wi-fi and air-conditioning throughout. Expect cocktail shakers and bulbous chrome pumps in the bar while the lounge is a mini design museum of gumball machines, fibre optic sidelights and cabinets of retro curiosities.

On elegant Rue de Châtelain, all wrought-iron balconies and ornamental brickwork, Odette en Ville inhabits a 1920s mansion with bow windows and a recessed, arched doorway. Sip a pomme d’amour cocktail with rosemary at a table on the pavement outside, between two well-established sidewalk fruit trees, or dine on buttery sole meunière among the dark panelling, wine racks and black and white photos of the super-chic restaurant. In the surrounding side streets, with their art nouveau houses and artisanal boutiques, you’ll find innovative galleries like the Bernier-Eliades and the dynamic Hangar art centre, dedicated since 2020 exclusively to photography.

From the breakfast buffet with its organic Belgian granola to a bar full of Brussels-brewed craft beers and Mad Lab savoury cookies, Made in Louise is all about local sourcing and attention to detail. There are crimson climbing roses and giant chess in the whitewashed courtyard or a wood-burning stove and pool table in the comfy indoor lounges. The receptionists can suggest a running route or give you a promo code for the Billy Bike app so you can cycle around the city. And the rooms are individually designed, with different wallpapers or wooden walls and views of the fragrant linden trees outside. The Patinoire art gallery, a few doors down, fills the light-drenched spaces of an old roller-skating rink with subtle, thought-provoking abstracts or bold, colourful forms.

The Galeries Royales Saint Hubert is a 19th-century shopping arcade with a high ceiling and ornate archways leading to luxury shops, elegant cafes and theatres. Here, the erstwhile Café des Arts attracted gatherings of surrealist painters and writers like Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. The 23 rooms and suites of the Hotel des Galeries are part of this historic, cultural complex. Designers Fleur Delesalle and Camille Flammarion joined forces in 2014 to revamp the interiors, using bespoke ceramic tiles, original prints and beams, bright fabrics and wooden floors. In the hotel’s Comptoir des Galeries restaurant every delicate dish, from foie gras with mango to fig and raspberry pavlova, is a work of art and, for even more photo ops, don’t miss picturesque, cafe-lined Rue de Bouchers next door.