On the site of a 16th-century prison, a short walk from the most ornate square in Europe.
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Overview
A Hundred and Fifty-Four
A hundred and fifty-four rooms and twenty-eight suites, in the old centre.
The Amigo takes its name and its site from a 16th-century prison — the story runs that a Spanish official mistranslated the Flemish for jail as the word for friend, and it stuck. It is fifty-six steps from the Grand-Place, which puts it closer to Brussels’ centre of gravity than anything else of its standard. Olga Polizzi did the interiors, and they lean deliberately on Belgian material: Magritte, local design, and one suite decorated entirely with Hergé’s Tintin. Prints of Tintin hang in the Carrara marble bathrooms too, which is a small joke that works.
Ask for the Tintin Suite. One suite is given over entirely to Hergé. It is the most requested room in the building, and it books far ahead.
154
Rooms
28
Suites
56
Steps to the Grand-Place
16th c.
The Site’s First Use
Rooms
Polizzi, and Belgian Wit
Carrara marble bathrooms, and rooms that reference Magritte and Hergé without labouring it.
The Tintin Suite — Hotel Amigo
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Olga Polizzi InteriorsDesigned in-house by Rocco Forte’s own director of design, room by room.
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Carrara MarbleSpacious marble bathrooms in every category, with Tintin prints on the walls.
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Themed SuitesSuites reference Belgian culture directly — Magritte, Hergé, and local design.
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Grand-Place AdjacentThe square is fifty-six steps away, which is close enough to hear it and not be in it.
Experiences
Brussels, in a Morning
A UNESCO square, two great museums, and the best beer culture in Europe.
Square
Grand-Place
The guild houses and the Town Hall, listed by UNESCO, fifty-six steps away.
Art
Magritte Museum
The largest collection of his work anywhere, on the Mont des Arts.
Comics
Comic Strip Centre
In a Horta building, and the right way to take Belgian comics seriously.
Beer
The Cafés
Trappist, lambic and gueuze, in bars that have been pouring them for a century.
Nouveau
Horta’s Houses
The Art Nouveau townhouses that made Brussels a UNESCO city twice over.
Onward
Bruges & Ghent
An hour by rail to either of the great Flemish cities.
Dining
Bocconi, and Fornasetti
Italian seasonal cooking in a room hung with Fornasetti plates.
01Ristorante BOCCONI, Italian, designed by Olga Polizzi with Fornasetti prints
02Bar A, off the lobby, for the aperitif hour
03Terrace seating on rue de l’Amigo in the warmer months
04Private dining rooms within the hotel
Ristorante BOCCONI — Hotel Amigo
Location
Off the Grand-Place
In the medieval heart of Brussels, beside the square.
On rue de l’Amigo, fifty-six steps from the Grand-Place.
Walking distance to the Magritte Museum and the Mont des Arts.
Ten minutes to Brussels Central, and Bruges or Ghent an hour beyond.
Roughly 25 minutes from Brussels Airport.
Rail
Two hours from London or 90 minutes from Paris by Eurostar.
Walk
Ten minutes from Brussels Central into the old centre.
Arrive
Check in, then the Grand-Place after dark, when it is lit.
Brussels
Fifty-Six Steps from the Square
A former prison site, Polizzi interiors, and a suite given over to Tintin.