Corinthia Grand Hotel Astoria – a Belle Époque palace reborn

On Rue Royale, in the quarter of Notre Dame aux Neiges, a Beaux-Arts façade that stood dark for seventeen years has come back to life as Corinthia Grand Hotel Astoria Brussels. The original Grand Hotel Astoria was built in 1909, replacing the old Mengelle family guesthouse, at the request of King Leopold II, so that Brussels would have a hotel grand enough for the crowned heads attending the 1910 World's Fair. Architect Henri Van Dievoet dressed it in sculpted stone balconies and Louis XVI interiors, and for decades it welcomed guests from Winston Churchill to Dwight Eisenhower. The hotel closed in 2007 and sat empty until the Maltese Corinthia group, which bought the building in 2016, carried out a four-year restoration under Belgian architect Francis Metzger and an extensive €150 million rebuild, reopening the 126-room hotel on 9 December 2024. The MICHELIN Guide now awards it Two Keys, and its ground-floor Palm Court, crowned once again by a restored stained-glass skylight, has reclaimed its place as one of the city's most photographed rooms.

01The house

The hotel's story begins with a modest guesthouse run by the Mengelle family, already a fixture with aristocrats and diplomats thanks to its position on Rue Royale, within sight of the Royal Palace. That guesthouse proved too small, and in 1909 it was demolished and replaced by the far grander Hotel Astoria, designed by Brussels architect Henri Van Dievoet and ready in time for the 1910 International Exposition. In 2000 the Brussels-Capital Region listed its ground floor and façade as a protected monument.

The hotel closed in 2007 and stood empty for seventeen years, its Beaux-Arts front a shuttered landmark on a street otherwise unchanged. Corinthia acquired the building in 2016 and spent four years restoring it under architect Francis Metzger, with an extensive €150 million rebuild, before reopening on 9 December 2024 with 126 rooms and suites and a new subterranean spa. Guests arriving today pass beneath the same sculpted balconies and tall picture windows that greeted the hotel's first visitors.

02Rooms and suites

Beyond the restored lobby, a grand staircase leads to the hotel's 90 bedrooms, 31 suites and five signature suites. The suites in particular read as elegant apartments rather than hotel rooms, with separate living rooms, private terraces, dedicated dining tables and walk-in wardrobes suited to longer stays.

Insider tip

Close to the Royal Palace, Grand Place and Brussels Central station; Two MICHELIN Keys.

The Royal Heritage Suite occupies the footprint of the hotel's original 1900 Royal Suite and has, over the decades, welcomed guests from Winston Churchill to Salvador Dalí to Bob Dylan. The Brontë Penthouse takes its name and mood from Charlotte Brontë's Brussels novel Villette, which drew on the city's hotel life of the period.

03Where to eat

Chef David Martin's Palais Royal serves French cuisine inflected with Japanese technique, offered as seven-, ten- or twelve-course tasting menus or, for travellers pressed for time, dish by dish à la carte. The room seats for lunch Tuesday to Friday and dinner Tuesday to Saturday.

Downstairs, with its own street entrance, Christophe Hardiquest's brasserie Le Petit bon bon holds a MICHELIN Plate distinction, pitched as a more informal, Belgian-leaning counterpart to Martin's gastronomic dining room. Both chefs anchor the hotel's reputation as one of the city's new culinary addresses.

04The bar

Belgian mixologist Hannah Van Ongevalle designed Under the Stairs, the hotel's tucked-away cocktail bar, where a menu inspired by love letters and confessions reflects the inventiveness that has put Belgium's contemporary bar scene on the map.

05Spa

A dramatic stairway leads down to Corinthia Spa by Sisley, a 1,200-square-metre wellness floor built into a newly excavated level beneath the historic building. It holds seven private treatment rooms, a steam room, sauna, experience showers and a tea room, plus a fitness centre offering personal training from a former British Army physical training instructor.

Beyond the standard trappings, expect Sisley-powered treatments, a hammam and a grotto-like indoor pool with its own fireplace.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel stands in Notre Dame aux Neiges, on Rue Royale, within the immediate vicinity of the Royal Palace. Grand Place is roughly 750 metres away and Brussels Central station about 600 metres, while the Musical Instruments Museum is a 17-minute walk and Manneken Pis around twelve minutes on foot.

07Making the most of a stay

Arrive in time for tea beneath the Palm Court's stained-glass skylight, the restored centrepiece that first impressed guests over a century ago. Book ahead for Palais Royal, where the tasting menu can run to twelve courses, and ask for one of the themed signature suites, such as the literary Brontë Penthouse, if the story matters as much as the square metres. Finish with a cocktail at Under the Stairs before the short walk to Grand Place.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.