An exemplary hotel founded on a renowned restaurant...

Food is a significant facet of the Art de Vivre of Bruges. A good meal has always had special significance in this town whose economic prosperity kindled a host of sophisticated culinary traditions and discoveries. Every aspect of life, be it political, social, professional or family, takes place around a well-laid dining table, enhanced by a few select bottles of wine.

The town is home to many high quality restaurants (the "fast food" concept has yet to gain footage within its walls), among which the Best Western Premier Weinebrugge Hotel is more than worthy of special mention. This establishment first built up its enviable reputation on the basis of its culinary talent, before afterwards creating a hotel in keeping with the high standards of its restaurant. Just a few minutes from the town's famous Belfry, the "restaurant-hotel" is located in the heart of one of Bruges' most elegant and most verdant neighbourhoods. Its bare and white-brick walls and its steep slate roofs are characteristic of Northern Europe. The garden around the hotel offers an oasis of tranquillity.

In the dining room, lovely light oak beams, totally unobtainable nowadays, contribute to the authentic ambience of the establishment. The restaurant offers a quality of service and an attention to detail such as oven-fresh bread and homemade appetizers that leave it in a class of its own. The menu features a wide selection of delicacies including local specialities such as eel in herbs and no less than three different sorts of foie gras. The wine list is equally extensive and boasts a choice of excellent vintages and a particularly wide selection of champagnes. One of the restaurant's highlights is dining on the lovely shaded terrace overlooking the garden. The exceptionally high quality breakfast buffet, fully in keeping with the establishment's impeccable standards, is laden high with scrumptious pastries that are fresh from the restaurant's oven every morning.

The elegant guestrooms are refreshingly peaceful (the hotel is a little off the main tourist track) and faultlessly equipped. Here as elsewhere, they offer the benefits of a modern construction, first and foremost of which light and practicality, all the while upholding the identity of the town and binding the hotel to its culture.

This quality of life, at the heart of which are artistic and culinary pleasures, explains the region's appeal with artists and travellers from the world over, and in particular with musicians. Marvin Gaye for example recorded his hit "Sexual Healing" in the nearby town of Ostend, encouraged to return to music by his friend and producer Freddy Cousaert (who is none other than the brother of the owner of the Best Western Premier Weinebrugge Hotel, Rudy Cousaert). The singer would have greatly enjoyed the unique charm of this establishment, so similar to that which appealed to him in Ostend, founded on an Art de Vivre focused on down-to-earth, genuine human relations and good food.