MINI GUIDE
Budget Brussels
COMPILED BY LORNA PARKES, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MARK ELLIOTT AND HELENA SMITH. PHOTOGRAPHS: IAN DAGNALL/ALAMY, MARTIN MOXTER/IMAGEBROKER/SUPERSTOCK, FRANCESCO PALERMO/ALAMY, GARDEL BERTRAND/HEMIS.FR/GETTY, SVENLAURENT, CHRIS HOWES/WILD PLACES PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMYBrussels essentials The know-how
FURTHER READING
Lonely Planet’s Pocket
Bruges & Brussels
(US$13.99) is a handy guide
for weekend
breaks, or the Brussels
chapter from the Belgium
& Luxembourg guide offers
a more compact overview
of the city (US$4.95;
download at lonelyplanet.
com). Beertourism.com has
exhaustive information on
beers and breweries. For an
insight into the complex
history of Brussels and
Flemish
society, read
Flanders: A
Cultural
History
by André de
Vries
(Amazon).BELGIAN BEERS
OAbbey beer Many of Belgium’s
top beers remain ‘abbey beers’ in
name only as brewing has been
outsourced in return for royalties.
Grimbergen, Maredsous and
Leffe are excellent examples.
OTrappist beer A controlled
term of origin for beers brewed
in Trappist-Cistercian monasteries,
of which Belgium has six. Rich,
smooth and complex, Chimay,
Orval and Westmalle are easy to
find.
OWhite beer Wheat beers,
typically cloudy, flavoured with
hints of orange peel and
cardamom. The best known is
Hoegaarden.
OLambic & fruit beers
Often blended (to make
gueuze), or sweetened with
sugar/caramel (for faro) or by
adding fresh fruit,
notably cherries
(for kriek) or
raspberries
(for framboise).mansion, The Captaincy
Guesthouse is an idiosyncratic,
boutique hostel, which features
an especially lovely double room
and en suite four-bed female
dorm (thecaptaincybrussels.com;
Quai à la Chaux 8; from US$38).
Chambres d’Hôtes du
Vaudeville is a classy b&b
with an incredible location.
Larger front rooms have
claw-foot bathtubs and street
views; back rooms are quieter
(theatreduvaudeville.be; Galerie
de la Reine 11; from US$135).WHERE TO STAY
The design-driven
Pantone Hotel is located
in central St-Gilles, and is
modern, stylish and surprisingly
affordable. Some of the larger
rooms come with a balcony or
terrace (pantonehotel.com;
Place Loix 1; from US$120).
Housed in a 17th-centuryTRANSPORT
The most direct flight is on
Qatar Airways via Doha from
Singapore or Kuala Lumpur
(qatarairways.com; from
US$582); the airport is 20
minutes from the city centre.
The airport is serviced by bus
and train; Airport City Express
trains run to the city’s three
major train stations (b-rail.be;
single US$8.65). Brussels has
an integrated bus-tram-metro
system and tickets are cheaper
if you buy before boarding
(single US$2.10). Unlimited
one-day passes cost US$7.50
(stib-mivb.be).Pantone Hotel is designed with
a scheme of contrasting coloursTours Shopping Drinking Sights Eating Sleeping)y
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