The Best Hotels in Leuven, Belgium
In dynamic Leuven, Belgium, the hotel scene ranges from ultra-modern boutique offerings to centuries-old former monasteries serving up local beers in atmospheric lobby bars – and they’re bookable on Culture Trip.
An ancient university and a youthful student population make bike-friendly Leuven a popular destination. Just 25 minutes from Brussels on the high-speed train, the city combines neogothic architectural masterpieces, innovative galleries and characterful bars with miles of urban woodland and the country’s oldest botanical gardens. Belgium is known for its craft beers, and nowhere more so than Leuven, where Stella Artois was first brewed in 1926. There are currently 30 different breweries producing hundreds of different ales across the city. Whether you’re here for the beer, the culture, the forest or a mixture of it all, here are the best hotels in Leuven, guaranteed to make your stay memorable.
1. Daya
Bed and Breakfast
This boutique bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Leuven has four understated rooms with velvet covers and deep baths or rain showers. Have breakfast on the chequered floor of the outdoor terrace under baskets of petunias. Later, you can order salads and samosas from an inventive takeaway menu. Among the local shops and cafes there’s a bakery a few doors down, and a welcoming gay bar on the corner.
2. Hotel Industrie
Hotel
Overlooking Martelarenplein, the big square in front of Leuven’s train station, Hotel Industrie has 16 functional bedrooms and a Grand Cafe offering a buffet breakfast. The main squares, with their ornate gabled houses, are a 20-minute stroll along Bondgenotenlaan. Chicory soup or hearty game stew are on the supper menu to refuel you afterwards, and the spacious plaza with its outdoor cafes and striking peace memorial is a great place to sit out and watch the crowds go by. Lots of other evening choices are on offer, with music at the Depot concert hall on the corner, creatively trendy cuisine and fancy wines at Fragma a few doors down and Belgian classics such as sole meunière with fries at Gloria in the old cigar factory on Arnould Nobelstraat.
4. Pentahotel
Hotel
5. Martin’s Klooster Hotel
Hotel
6. The Lodge
Hotel, Lodge
7. Gasthof De Pastorij
Hotel
8. Getaway Studios
Hotel
This is an updated version of an article originally written by Nana Van De Poel.
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