We're flying into Brussels on a Monday, arriving around 5:00 pm if our flight is on time. We originally planned to go straight to Ghent via train, but we changed course to stay in Brussels for the night to catch the Christmas market and see the city at night. We thought that if we arrive late, it would also make for an easier evening, given that we will be jet-lagged. I am looking for hotel suggestions that would place us in a good spot to see the market and also catch the train the next morning. We thought about just staying near the airport, but it seems there are probably better options. Thank you in advance for the suggestions!
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Sydney, Australia
183 posts
Hi cdawson77, there are a few different locations that would serve your purposes. The Winter Wonders market is at the following locations: Grand-Place - Place de la Monnaie - Bourse - Sainte-Catherine - Marché aux Poissons (Vismarkt) - Place de Brouckère
All of these areas are sort of contiguous but get progressively further from the station (have a look at your map for this). You could go for a hotel near Bruxelles-Central and walk to GP from there, if you want to stay close to the trains, or you could pick a hotel in one of the market areas to be close to the markets, but it would be a bit more of a walk to the station. Alternatively you could pick somewhere around De Brouckère and catch a metro from there to Gare Centrale which is the metro station adjacent to Bruxelles-Central. So if you just want to stay near the station and walk into the centre for the markets, then there are a lot of choices at various price points (I don't know your budget). Le Dixseptième, Hilton, Novotel, Ibis are all good choices (Ibis is the budget choice but a good location), but if you want De Brouckère, maybe the Adagio, which is right on top of the metro and right in the middle of the markets, or if you wanted Sainte-Catherine, which has a lot of bars and restaurants and also in the thick of the markets, there is a Citadines there and a Novotel (used to be called Tour Noire). There is also a metro at Ste.-Catherine. Any of these would be OK, they are all still 'downtown' and it will be easy to get to both markets and station.
Lavandula