Top 10: the best four-star hotels in Bruges
An expert guide to the best four-star hotels in Bruges, including the top places to stay for canalside views, couryard terraces, historical buildings, elegant décor, fabulous spas, stately rooms, personal service, swimming pools and free guided tours in locations near the Sint-Anna district, Rozenhoedkaai, Belfry, museums, canals, the Burg and the cathedral.
Hotel Van Cleef
Bruges, Belgium
9Telegraph expert rating
The 18th-century building’s history goes back to the medieval Van Cleef family and successive aristocratic dynasties. It still retains much of its stately grandeur and public rooms are decorated in elegant and comfortable country-house style, enlivened by striking contemporary art and fabrics – the work of interior designer Pascale Vanhaecke-Marcantuoni, who, with her husband Frederik, have made the hotel very much a personal project. Rooms are beautifully presented, with super-comfortable box-spring beds and marbled bathrooms with whirlpool baths. Free guided tours of the city are offered from Monday to Friday. Read expert review From ￡155per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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The Pand
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
This four-storey building was formerly an 18th-century maison de ma?tre (grand townhouse). Inside, the intimate interior is redolent of the past, with an overall décor threaded with a comfortable, classic elegance. The hotel prides itself on its high standards of personal service, which is evident from the moment you enter. Reception staff can advise on what to see and do, point out walks and jogging trails, organise babysitting, airport transfers and so on. At the back of the hotel there is small courtyard garden with a fountain. Rooms are all different, and individually and luxuriously decorated, but Ralph Lauren wallpapers and fabrics are a predominant theme. Some have wonderful views of the Bruges skyline. Read expert review From ￡129per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Hotel De Orangerie
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
The hotel could hardly be more central – tucked away on a quiet street and just a short walk from main historic squares and key attractions. Its large terrace at the back overlooks a famously picturesque stretch of canal called Den Dijver, and is the envy of the many tourists who pass in tour boats, and who throng the opposite bank. There is a theatrical opulence to the entrance, with a lobby swathed in fabric, but this soon melts into the old-world grandeur of the wood-panelled breakfast/tea room and adjacent lounge. Elsewhere the style could be called English Country Manor: light, floral and agreeably rambling. No two rooms are the same, and each is individually decorated, with special emphasis on fine English and French fabrics. Read expert review From ￡114per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Hotel De Tuilerieen
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
Occupying a stately, ochre-coloured building that dates back to the 15th century, the hotel is equally elegant within, from its marble-columned, chandeliered breakfast room at the front to its pretty little garden terrace at the rear. There’s also a cosy, dimly-lit bar, panelled reading room, swimming pool and steam room. Film lovers should note: while it was the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce Hotel that appeared in 2008’s darkly delightful In Bruges, the cast actually stayed here during shooting, as a display by the entrance confirms. The view from the top-floor room – that was given to Ralph Fiennes – is stunning, and the hotel in general overlooks the pretty Dijver canal. Read expert review From ￡146per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
This four-star comprises four houses dating from the Middle Ages, which were knocked together in the 1720s. The public rooms downstairs are small but comfortable, decorated with antiques, stained glass and grand flower arrangements, and an exceptional collection of 20th-century art (Klimt, Matisse, Chagall, Magritte). Elsewhere, the tone is set by Ralph Lauren fabrics, limed-wood furnishings and wooden floors. Standard bedrooms have a simple, pared-down simplicity, but are elegant and comfortable, while higher categories have more lavish fabrics and wallpapers, period furniture and objets d’art. There is a canal-side breakfast room, which doubles up as a tearoom later in the day, with an outside terrace. Read expert review From ￡160per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Grand Hotel Casselbergh
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
Right beside the Burg, the prettiest of Bruges' two main historic squares, containing the fairytale Town Hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood. There are two parts to the hotel: the old building at the front, and a neat, ultra-modern block at the back, overlooking the canal. The four lounges and staircase in the old building have been beautifully restored in an 18th-century, stately-home style. This had been a famous palace in Bruges’ medieval heyday, and housed the future Charles II of England during his exile in the 1650s. Professional service is delivered to four-star standards but with personalised attention, and the fitness room, sauna and Turkish bath are in remarkable cellars dating back to the 14th century. Read expert review From ￡102per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Crowne Plaza Brugge
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
This is the former site of the medieval Cathedral of St Donatian, demolished in 1799 when Belgium was under French Revolutionary rule; extensive archaeological remains of this, plus some city walls, have been preserved in the hotel's basement. The hotel's exterior, in red brick with round arches, is a modern take on the Romanesque style. The interior is sleek, spacious and international, although one section occupies old historic buildings, where original features have been preserved. Guests' needs are admirably anticipated, for instance with ice machines on every floor, and there's a fitness centre, a sauna and – rare in Bruges – a medium-sized indoor swimming pool. Read expert review From ￡115per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Hotel Oud Huis de Peellaert
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
Two adjoining 19th-century, neoclassical mansions – one formerly the home of the Baron de Peellaert – have been seamlessly combined to create this hotel. The impressive, high-arched lobby is in fact the old carriage entrance. The grand spiral staircase, with griffons supporting the treads, rises through the floors to a stained-glass skylight. Public rooms have chandeliers, oil paintings and antique furniture, and the overall impression is one of refined and stylish elegance, mixing the antique with the modern. The wellness centre, with gym equipment and sauna, is in the 16th-century cellars and massage sessions can be booked. A small, courtyard garden has seating, and sunshades. Read expert review From ￡94per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Martin's Relais
Bruges, Belgium
7Telegraph expert rating
On one side of the hotel is the Spiegelrei, a pretty cul-de-sac of a canal which was once the busy medieval port; on the other is the old merchants’ quarter where international traders had their headquarters in the medieval heyday of Bruges. The hotel comprises five 18th-century mansions which were rolled into one in the 19th century, resulting in interiors that have a pleasantly labyrinthine feel. All bedrooms are different but decorated in a coordinated style of pastel colours, upholstered furniture and antique prints, and have views of either the garden or the canal. The garden, a peaceful green oasis, is one of the largest of any hotel in Bruges. Read expert review From ￡77per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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Hotel Prinsenhof
Bruges, Belgium
8Telegraph expert rating
The historic centre of Bruges is just minutes away by foot and many sights and shopping streets are within walking distance. The building dates from 1930 and, designed in the style of a historical mansion, the medieval history of the site is evoked in the lobby with its grand chimneypiece, oak panelling and antiques. More generally, the décor recalls an elegant, well-appointed home, with agreeably ad hoc architecture. Guests can use the ‘Prinsenhof Butler’, a QR-based mobile website that offers the staff’s insider advice about what to see and where to shop, eat and drink in Bruges. Free guided tours of the city, in English, are available every weekday afternoon. Read expert review From ￡156per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com