We stayed for 3 nights and it was a great hotel. Good central location, friendly staff and a great breakfast, will certainly stay again in other Novotels. Would recommend it

We have just spent 3 nights at the Novotel and greatly enjoyed this short break. It is only 5 mins walk from Central station and well in the heart of the city's entertainment and cultural center.

This hotel is well run by friendly professional staff and it is spotlessly clean. The beds were firm but comfortable. We only had breakfast but that was very good with a wide range of hot and cold foods, and again welcoming staff. It really is superbly located with so many good restaurants, more than a few chocolatiers and beautiful old buildings and churches.

We also took advantage of the train system which has a cheap ticket system for pensioners, over 65, at only 4 euro per ride anywhere in the country. The trains are easy to use and even run on time!

We booked 2 nights for 2 here including breakfast for about £150. I had read the location was good but hadn't realised just how good - just 3 mins stroll to Grand Place and you could see the entrance to the Galleries St Hubert from the hotel entrance and a little craft market outside too. Oh and right outside the hotel you can hire 'city bikes' for around €2 or so for a week (if I got the instructions right) and you need to insert a credit card into a machine for it - if we were there for longer we would have hired the bikes I think.

We had a standard Novotel room on floor 5 - nice bed, sofa, tv etc. The bathroom had quite a neat bath that was round at one end to make a nice sized shower area - separate toilet room. Unusually for Europe (in my experience anyway) there were tea and coffee making facilities too (bring your own milk for that though as none provided).

Breakfast was good - a nice variety but we wouldn't have had it there if it wasn't included as it is expensive (the website quoted €17 per person) - considering it was a weekend it wasn't busy but we did have to wait for a while for coffee.

The bar downstairs is modern and comfortable but expensive in comparison to other bars nearby. The bartender we had didn't understand French (even though French is the language in Brussels) and spoke to us in English.

I suggest buying a couple of cans of drink (beer or soft) from the 'Belgian frit'n'toast' shop opposite to take to the room to drink. Oh and the chips from there are absolutely - can't think of an appropriate word to describe chips (fries) without sounding weird but they were so nice!

We were lucky with weather as it just rained overnight! So the days were spent exploring the city on foot - it is easy to walk for hours (and miles) there and its mainly flat too. We found that most shops etc around Grand Place don't open until 11am on Saturday - we were out ready before10!! An opportunity to work off that chocolate before we had it :)

We didn't find the bar prices in the Grand Place as expensive as expected but February/March isn't really tourist season. If you wasn't really cheap and cheerful chocolates for 'token presents' there are many bulk buy places round the Mannekin Pis. But obviously the good stuff costs more and Godiva and Pierre Marcolini are well renowned for quality especially the latter at €70+ for a kilo of the best chocolates!

We would return and if the Novotel had the special offer again we would stay again because it was so convenient.

One thing to be aware of - there are many women, often with children, holding out cups to passers by begging for money - a firm and smileless 'non' moves them on - it sounds harsh and mean but if you aren't firm they will keep coming back. We found out a non with a smile means that they will keep asking - we saw some tourists give money (while people watching from a café) and these tourists were 'targeted' by others soon after, and by others, and others etc.

Just returned from Easter weekend in Brussels satying at the Novotel Off Grand Place. The hotel location is the best point, rooms are standard, TV has lots of channels, not that many English ones. Breakfast OK, not worth the 21 erous if you are staying room only. Overall a good hotel, but I only paid £180 for 3 nights BB.