Brussels - cheap (but nice!) places to stay. Any ideas?

[Tinker]

Right, hoping you can help because I know there are quite a few with Brussels/Belgian links and/or experience of the place.

Am going for short 2 night stay - WITHOUT CHILD!!! Want to stay somewhere central. Trouble is, we're (me and a male ) are going mid-week (flights cheap) which means can't take advantage of weekend rates in hotels. Just looked and some look very pricey. Can anyone recommend somewhere cheap (as in £60 type of price per night) but central?

Thank you very very much in advance.

Have you tried lastminute.com, you might be able to find a bargain through this site.

Good luck.

Gosh I am from Brussels and can't think of anything.... I'll get back to you this Sunday (I hope)

Tinker : One MAJOR piece of advice... don't eat rue des Bouchers near the Grand Place - every tourist goes there : it's expensive and poor quality. ... a really bad tourist trap.
If you want pure Belgian food you need
't Spinnokepeke (well know by hotels)
On the Grand Place there is a good restaurant called (I think)
't kelderke (or something similar ... it means the small basement in dutch) and it is in a basement I think below the KB bank but that's where Belgians go to.
Places to see for shopping are Avenue Louise, Avenue de la Toison d'Or et Boulevard de Waterloo (all same area) - I would avoid Rue Neuve.
There is a chain of bread shops which serves really nice breakfasts (because their breads and croissant are fab) it's called Le Pain Quotidien - you can also go there for lunch or coffee.

From memory - rue de la Concorde is next to where I use to work (glass of wine not helping memory here!) but not such an intersting place - biring street... so quiet indeed... but then again Brussels is fairly small. It shoud be close to Avenue Louise and Chaussee d'Ixelles. If it is and you decide to stay there I would recommend a restaurant which is really good and owned by friends - it's called Le Tournant and it's on Chaussee de Wavre, 170 (you would need to check if it is open and if they have a table as it is VERY small but WORTH IT and often fully booked! 02.502.6165)

If you did go there - please let me know !

I knew I could count on mumsnet! Thank you so much.

ks - have just read about Hotel Rembrandt in Lonely Planet guide - spooky!

ticklebyday - checked out lastminute. Wasn't so good to be honest, stil bit pricey. But thanks, because I'd forgotten about that site. Have tentatively booked Hotel Mozart because it looks quite quirky and is near Grand Place.

Pupuce - thanks you soo much for all that info - will print it off. Will certainly try to getto recommended restaurant and will let you know how we get on. Oh just a question, it's ok to speak French (or try to!) in Brussels? I mean, the Flemish speakers won't get p*** off will they?

No they won't but everyone speaks English... Brussels is mostly French speaking actually.
Enjoy

There's always a campamile, although they are usually out of town.

So Tinker - have you been??? How was it?

Hello Pupuce! Yes we went and 2 nights wasn't long enough at all. Really great city but Charlesroi isn't exactly nearby for the plane. Anyway, I had printed off this thread but realised when I got there that I had forgotten to bring it! Doh! So, despite your very good advice, hunger got the better of me and we did end up eating in Rue des Bouchers! Ah well. Next night much better.

Our hotel - for anyone else who is interested - was called Hotel Mozart and was about 10 meters from the Grand Place. Only trouble was ,there was a nightclub over the road - I would ask for an inside room next time!!! But very quirky and reasonable.

Was looking to go for NY Eve but thought that might be a bit extravagent.

The metro was unfathomable (for us!) but we managed to get to Avenue Louise. Only thing we missed that I wanted to see was the Jacques Brel museum.

Certainly hope to go again, in fact Pupuce, do you know of any companies that do cottages in Belgium - it's currently my favourite underrated country.

Well I could have told you how far Charleroi was from Brussels!!

Why could you not fathom the tube???? It's a harmless one.
Next time you have to see the Musee Horta - REALLY nice (art nouveau house).

Don't know any cottages of hand but will think about it.

Shame about the Rue des Bouchers... can you confirm that's it's rip-off Brusels?

But it was a Ryanair cheapie! When do Ryanair ever fly you to the city they purport to do so?

Rue des Bouchers seemed rip-off certainly, litre of house red was, I think £10, which is pretty pricey for Europe.

The metro??? I know, we are 'intelligent' people. Next time amy think about styaing at a B&B - there are some really trendy, cheapish ones advertised.

Oh, and Plastic Bertrand was hosting their Pop Idol programme!!

Tinker, for nice accommodation elsewhere in Belgium, try Gites de Wallonie here: users.skynet.be/bs139263/cadmengb.htm
Not exactly cheap, but "properties of character" IYKWIM, and in rural villages usually.

P.S. How do you do those clever clickable links?

Plastic Bertrand... now how do you know who he is ?

Sprout: go to "getting started" at the top of this page and scroll all the way down, it will tell you how to do them... it is still too complicated for me so I am not creating a link for you to find it!

sprout - click on the Getting Started link at the top of the page for instructions (or on this link of course!).

Pupuce - Ca Plane Pour Moi...he was essential proof to English teenagers that it was possible to speak French and not be a complete stiff (like Mademoiselle X our teacher). He and Jean-Jacques Burnel were very important to the linguists at school. I am afraid I had 0% appreciation for Jacques Brel, Charles Trenet and the rest at 15.

Ca plane pour moi moi moi - he was HUGE in Australia!

ooo weeeeeeeeeee ooo ooo!

En quatre couleurs

OOOOHHHH PLEEEAAAASE!!!!!!
Well can you name other famous Belgians ????
And did you knnow how Madona started her career (yes there is a belgian link)...

Of course we can. Pupuce...errr...my cousin Christine...Mannikin Pis...Poirot...Tintin. an exceptionally fine line-up in my opinion.
Did she start out lap-dancing in a bar in Antwerp or something?

Backing singer on Born to be Alive

Wasn't Audrey Hepburn born there but she's Americn

I stayed with a friend in Brussels last May, Pupuce, and went to the Musee Horta. It was wonderful, a beautiful house and fantastic gardens, esp the maze. We also went to the Africa Musee, which is really interesting.

I was v disappointed with Mannikin Pis - it's so small!!! The range of associated souvenir tat to remind you of it is breathtaking - a Mannikin Pis corkscrew, anyone??