Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come throu...
Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come through with a review at long last. :)
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During our recent trip to Belgium we stayed in Bruges. We had never stayed there before and, when planning the trip, didn’t know any hotels to base our decision on which to pick on. Our group was quite large (there were to be 17 of us in total) so we needed a decent sized place, but not in a huge and impersonal hotel. We also wanted to be well located in the centre of Bruges, but not too far away from the railway station (or at least easy to get to by public transport). So the criteria was small(ish), friendly, clean, good location, decent breakfast, good transport links and not too expensive. Were we asking too much? Our trip organiser (who was also in charge of transport) had a scout around and came up with the Hotel Nicolas.
~~~WHERE IS IT?
The Hotel Nicolas can be found at 9 Niklaas Desparsstraat in the centre of Bruges (so it certainly fulfilled that criteria). It is really near to the shops and is only about 200 metres from the main Market Place – so you are also close to the main tourist attractions that surround the square, such as the Belfry, the cloth market and the Provincial Court. There are also lots of bars, cafes and shops around the edge of the square. As well as that there are usually some special events going on in the square – while we were there we saw an open air concert, a bicyclefair and a firework and light show!
To get to the hotel if you are travelling by train (we went to Belgium on the Eurostar, after our minibus broke down on the M25 on the way down – a bit of a nightmare which ended in us standing on the side of the motorway for 3 hours!). This meant we had to get a train from Brussels to
Bruges. When you come out of the railway station in Bruges you will find the bus stops are all just outside the main entrance. Get any bus that says Centrum on it and get off at the Market – from there the hotel is only a few minutes walk away. We should have been going there by coach, but as circumstances were against us we didn’t end up having to locate the hotel by road; there are full instructions about where to go and were to park on the hotel website (address given below).
~~~PRICES AND BOOKING.
We got a group booking so any supplements or extras were spilt evenly between the group – our outlay also included our transport too. According to the hotel the prices are dependent on season and room size. For a single room you will pay €50 per night (€45 in winter season) and for a double room €60 (€53). Other rooms (with 3 beds, etc) are available and also some special deals for midweek breaks, via their website. You can also book via the website or by phone (it is available on some other hotel booking sites too if you want to shop around). Our trip was booked on the phone and we took over all but two of the rooms in the hotel for our large party – this was no problem and the hotel staff were very obliging.
~~~CHECKING IN AND OUT.
As we were a large party we all made sure we travelled together and arrived as a group so our rooms could be allocated at the same time to avoid any problems. When we realised we were going to be later than our estimated time of arrival (due to the bus trauma and having to change our time and way of travelling) our party leader phoned the hotel just so they knew it would be nearer 6pm than 3pm that we would be checking in. This was not a problem and they were waiting for us when we got there. We just had to provide some basic information on each guest and give a method of payment – which we would then use on check-out. Our keys were handed out and we were also given a guide to Bruges, a card that gave discounts at certain shops and attractions and a rather nice box of Belgian chocolates. I thought these things were a lovely gesture and it made us all feel very welcome.
Check-out at the end of trip was also painless and done with a smile. Latest time to vacate the rooms was given as 11am, but we were going to spend the day in Brussels before getting our Eurostar home so we arranged to have an earlier breakfast and leave at 9am. Again this was no hassle. So at nine we just handed in our keys, the group was paid for and we left.
The reception was only open during the day and the front door is locked at night, so don’t hand in your room key when you go out for the day because you will need the second key on the fob to get back in again.
~~~FROM THE OUTSIDE.
As you approach it is quite possible to miss the hotel – the hotel next door is a little flasher and has a better sign. The Nicolas is unassuming and isn’t flashy, with neon signs and bells and whistles. It has a sign on an awning and a front door! It has the look of an old town residence and this feel is carried on inside.
~~~THE INSIDE.
Once inside the door you are into the reception area – or more accurately a desk inside the hallway. There isn’t a great deal of space here, we all crowded around while the party leader checked us in and handed out the room keys. We were fortunate because we were given a room on the first floor – the stairs to go up were extremely steep and not too good, but we peered up at the next flight (and were told by those who got second floor rooms) that the stairs to that floor were almost vertical and not unlike climbing a ladder. The lift is very old and has a sign on the outside to say it was for luggage only – not a hotel for the less mobile then! We did see folks risking the lift and no-one said anything, but it wasn’t the most modern looking appliance so we didn’t (I might have reconsidered if we’d have had that dodgy looking second flight of stairs to contend with.
Staying downstairs, there is a lounge area behind the desk with a couple of extremely comfy sofas, a television and a coffee table with lots of leaflets about the local area (and a jar with boiled sweets). The décor in the lounge and continuing through to the breakfast room is a curious yet pleasant
Pictures of Hotel Nicolas, Bruges
The lounge area
mixture of traditional and oriental. The owners are Chinese and there are a few Chinese dragons and the like on display and hanging from the ceilings. The dining room isn’t huge and is in what would have once been one of the downstairs sitting rooms of the building when it was a private residence. There is a long row of tables in the middle and tables arranged into groups of four around the outside – all have flowers and the dining area is clean, fresh and tidy.Heading on upstairs (clinging for dear life to the handrail) our room was not far from the top of the stair well. Ours was a double room and we dropped lucky in getting the largest room and the only one with a large bay window and a huge marble fireplace. Facilities are basic and the furniture consists of a bed, bedside cabinets, a couple of chairs, a dressing table and one of those folding rack things you put your suitcase on. There are no tea making things or a TV. Clothes can either go in the drawers of the dressing table or in the wardrobe built into the room – there are plenty of hangers and some deep shelves in there too, as well as a couple of extra pillows and some extra bedding. There was a plug in air freshener on the shelf too (maybe they thought we may be smelly!).
The bathroom in our room was a decent size and had a sink, toilet and shower. There was no bath and no hairdryer (as was promised when I emailed the hotel to ask. The bathroom was clean and the towels and toilet rolls were topped up on a daily basis. There were some little bars of soap, but no shower gel or shampoo provided. The shower was quite old but worked well and the toilet actually had a pretty decent flush.
Our only problem with the room was with the plug points. We had taken a couple of standard Europeantravel adapters with us and they didn’t fit in the sockets. The ones in the room were the older style ones with a metal prong sticking out of the wall – our more modern adapters didn’t have the necessary hole to accommodate the prong, so we found ourselves unable to charge our phones, etc. We went down to the reception area and asked where we could buy travel adapters that fit their sockets and showed them ours to explain our problem. The lovely lady at the desk just handed us a couple of adapters and said we could use hers for the duration of our stay and just hand them back at the end. So our problem was easily and swiftly sorted!
~~~FOOD.
The hotel only does breakfast and there are no facilities for other meals. The lady was very nice though and would make you a cup of coffee if you asked her during the day (for no extra charge). Breakfast was served from 8.30 until 10.30am, which I thought was a very civilised time of day. We generally went down at nine and were usually pretty much the first guests there. There was a good choice of breads, spreads, cereals, cheeses, cold meats and a toaster that worked pretty well. What I did miss was there were no pastries, fruit or yoghurts, which seems to be the norm in most Belgian hotels. There was plenty to eat though and it was all topped up regularly and without any fuss. Drinks were served to your table and there was the added (and welcome for me) option of hot chocolate as well as the usual tea and coffee. Top ups were available if you just asked the waitress. Fruit juice was also plentiful and was on the table with the food and milk.
It was easy to stock up for the day because the breakfast time was leisurely and we weren’t made to feel rushed. I was more than happy with the choice and was particularly impressed with the range of different spreads to go on the bread and toast – this included different jams, honey and a rather tasty chocolate honey spread that I hadn’t seen before.
~~~FINAL THOUGHTS.
The Hotel Nicolas is an excellent base for a holiday in Bruges. It is ideally and conveniently located for all the attractions and sites of Bruges. It is also run by some lovely people and they, and their staff, were friendly, helpful and made our stay really nice. The nice touches and courtesy went a long way and definitely made up for any inadequacies that the old building may present. The bedrooms aren’t modern, the stairs and lift aren’t great and it is doubtful that anyone with mobility problems could get to any of the upper floors (and there are no bedrooms on the ground floor). Any slight problems that occurred during our break were sorted without us being made to feel a bother, so that also added to the feel good factor.
A nice and simple hotel! I would certainly recommend that, if you are planning to travel and stay in Bruges, you won’t be making a mistake if you check out the Hotel Nicolas.
~~~HOTEL DETAILS.
Hotel Nicolas Niklaas Desparsstraat 9 8000 Brugge Belgium Phone: 32 50 335502 Fax: 32 50 343544
Have run out of exceptional reviews so I will go in tomorrow and re-rate. I wanted to go to Bruges but my husband booked Brussels instead (which was still nice). I must print this review off and leave it lying around who knows we may go there next.
Sarah.
CaptainColonic 10.07.2007 02:04
This is a hotel I probably would consider. Your description and the pictures were very useful.
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exceptional by (28%):
very helpful by (72%):
