Bo2642

We are two ladies who will be driving down to Brussels from Amsterdam on April 9, spending the nights of April 9 and 10 in or near Brussels. We'll have just the evening of April 9 and the day of April 10 to do a bit of exploring in the city. Do any of you have suggestions for clean, comfortable midrange accommodations with twin rooms and parking. We would like to keep our car parked and use public transportation for the city.
B&Bs or hotels. Both are fine.
This is what we're working on now, but we're just in the first stages of planning, so I'm sure there will be more questions as our itinerary takes form. Thanks in advance.

cdnyul

I was in Brussels three times in the past 12 months, and on two occasions I had a car.

Hotel Erasme included free parking, and it is a short walk to the Erasme metro station.

Hotel Chelton, near the Shuman metro station, has easy street parking, with a two hour limit, but on weekdays everybody cheats. However, the disk patrol does the rounds on Fridays in the afternoon. I was lucky, my brother got a ticket.

Hotel Chelton also has limited paid parking which you would have to reserve.

On the occasion without a car I stayed at the Royal Windsor, next to the Grand Place. Windsor also has its own parking garage which costs over 20 Euros.

Mark

dfourh

If you go to booking.com and click on the filters on the lower left, you can click a box to specify showing only those accommodations that have parking (there are about 300 in Brussels that do). If you search for properties in your price range, and look on a map to see that the property is also close to public transportation (bus stop or Metro), then it is worth looking at the parking specifics, and also reading comments from people who have stayed there, to get more specifics on their parking arrangements (very often it refers to a nearby parking structure, or easy street parking, as opposed to having their own lot).

elberko

Have you considered the train? No parking issues, pleasant journey, and I don't think the route is particularly scenic by car.

~Liz

dfourh

One more tip: since you are driving in from Amsterdam and don't plan to use your car in the city, you might want to consider staying north of the city, with easy access from the motorway from Amsterdam, and close to public transportation. You could stay up in Schaerbeek a 5-minute walk from the Schaerbeek station (9 minute train from Schaerbeek to Central; 3 stops) at a place rated 8.6 at Booking for ~$100 US for a double (Les Annees Folles; apartment with kitchen; free public parking).

That may be technically far from center, but may be quicker and more convenient than staying much closer to center. Zooming on the map will yield other places closer in; the key factors / tradeoffs will be: city driving hassle vs. strollable distance to center vs. good access to public transportation.

cdnyul

Thank you Liz, for helping me with a bet I made with my wife.

I was sure there would be a "take the train" post in this thread.

Mark

Bo2642

Thank you all for your good input. We are just beginning to plan. The booking.com info is especially helpful...well, actually all is appreciated. Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. Regarding the train, that would be a good option in many cases, but we will be visiting several cities, and a car will be easier for us than trying to manage baggage on the train.