- Comfort Art Hotel Siru (Brussels, Belgium; tel. 02/203-35-80): An art-aficionado owner had the innovative idea of inviting Belgium's top artists to decorate a room with a painting, sculpture, or installation on the theme of travel. Many of them took up the challenge, with the result that each room is a miniature single-exhibit art gallery. The art is, obviously, contemporary, so the response from guests can vary. Some regulars ask for a different room each time so that after a hundred visits they'll have toured the full "gallery"; some always ask for the same room; others, shaken by an unsettling image, ask for a room change in the middle of the night.
- Welcome (Brussels, Belgium; tel. 02/219-95-46): This is the best little hotel in Brussels, a small place with a big welcome, and the standard of the rooms is high. Try to get owner Michel to tell you about the hotel's history, preferably over a glass or two of Kwak beer -- but be careful: It's a long story and Kwak is strong beer.
- Egmond (Bruges, Belgium; tel. 050/34-14-45): You can think of the Egmond as your own country mansion, for not much more than a hundred bucks a room. There's just one problem with this image: The Egmond is not actually in the country. In compensation, it has its own grounds and gardens, and stands next to the Minnewater (Lover's Lake).
