We booked this hotel at the last minute and as there was little availability elsewhere, didn't have much choice. But we were pleasantly surprised and relieved to find that it looked lovely on the outside and lovely on the inside! The room we had was very spacious and although the furniture looks a bit lost in the middle of the room because of this, it was fine and comfortable enough. The staff are very nice and the breakfast was good. Centrally located, with about a 5-10 minute walk into the main square.

We booked this hotel directly with the owner. He was very helpful and went out of his way to describe the differences between the rooms and suites to my wife. When we got there we understood! This is a converted grand home with an ornate facade and central garden. We asked for a cot as we had our 10 month old baby with us and when we got there, he was all too happy to remove it when we said we'd brought our own.
The room is very spacious and the bathroom likewise. Our baby was really able to roam around which is great after a day in a pushchair/carseat
Breakfast was very good and not what we expected from this size of hotel. This is a husband and wife team and their attentiveness at all times was remarkable given that they were fully booked
The car park is a short walk away and the owner gave me a map on which he marked the route there and back through the often confusing one-way system in operation throughout cobble-stoned central Bruges
Oh, I solicited some restaurant recommendations of which we tried the sofleur (sp?). It was excellent!
I would definitely stay here again if I found myself in this part of Belgium in the future

The Hotel Walburg wasn't our first choice hotel when we tried to book for the Easter period, but we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived.

The hotel is very clean and we loved the decoration, lovely wooden floors, glass chandeliers, and everything crisp and white.....including the weather, (snow).

Bruges is quite a small place but the hotel was nicely situated about 100m away from the centre of town.

Eating out in Bruges can be quite expensive but the varying standard of food is what concerned us most. Food in the main square is aimed at the tourist and represents poor value for money, it is best avoided. We were given a recommendation by the hotel staff of De Pepermolen, 2 minutes from the hotel, and for a few Euros more we had a fantastic meal, cooked to perfection with faultless service. This meal was one of the highlights of my time in Bruges.

We thought breakfast was a very civilised affair, good choice of hot and cold and in a pleasant setting.

Compared to our friends who were staying in another hotel in Bruges we were oh so glad we ended up in the Hotel Walburg.

The following may appear petty and a bit 'hair-splitty', but couple this with the ambience set by the Parton's- Mr. and Mrs. Grumpy, then you may see why we started to question the fact that just because a hotel has a fine and imposing frontage and big, high ceilinged rooms and it pipes clichéd classical music around the place, does it have the right to set it self up as a four star experience?

The price list in the hotel quotes around 225 euros per night for a double. For that, you expect some thought, effort and atmosphere.

We were greeted without gusto and a small scared looking young girl was asked to show us to our rooms. The lift took a while so we faced each other in silence. I began to wonder why she seemed so depressed and bunny like in the glare of the headlights of the task of making a greeting and showing us to the room with a breezy air and a cheery grin. The lift eventually arrived just before I began to wonder if she may be there under a slave labour arrangement from a country less fortunate than the one we were in.

The lift was slow small and smelled as if someone with persistent flatulence regularly joy rode this space. We naturally, were scared that she would think that it was one of us two with the problem. She probably thought we were wondering if it was he...We all stared downwards.

The room was very clean and the bed very comfortable, despite the rubberised under sheet. There was little atmosphere to the large but sparse room and its decor. The wardrobe door stuck. The room was cold from around midnight onwards through to the mid morning. There were no extra blankets. There was only one glass in the mini bar, no iron, and no tea or coffee facilities. The lighting lacked any ambience and was glaringly bright when switched on, especially in the middle of the night. The freebies in the bathroom were cheap looking and unexciting (4 star remember?) The sealant round the bath was really badly attended to. There was only one small rubbish bin in the bathroom so we had to use a carrier bag. TV was OK but small. I have been to four star places with a flat - screen TV and DVD player (Even if you never use then, they make you feel good and that would be the point of a short break)

Best of all, was the vista! We were in a room which opened majestically onto four brick walls affording the view of a dirty plastic sheeting pyramid in the middle, presumably skylighting the kitchen.

We half thought of trying to change the room but or reception somehow had dulled our senses and we just went with it.
We felt refusal would have been the only response, given the fact that they seemed to have made such a thinly disguised unsmiling song and dance (any kind of entertainment would have been welcome) about the fact that we had turned up a tad earlier than the check in time. We were reminded of Basil Fawlty with out the laughs, or even your classic British BxB owner
In films of the 1960's, especially when I meekly asked about a left luggage space. 'Checkout is 11am?' I asked ‘Yes. 11 am, they seemed as if they didn't want to do anything extra and when we wanted her to book us a table at a local restaurant, this seemed an effort. Even more timidly, we enquired as to the possibility of a plug adaptor... It looked like it wouldn't fit, I mentioned this, the patron was unsmilingly confident that it would... It didn't fit.

I am aware that this all sounds like a list of small complaints, ands somewhat picky, but they all start tot up, and then, unnervingly, you find yourself counting them, even almost savouring these small irritation, waiting for another, unfortunately this prevents you from relaxing. If the place had been warm, cheery and buzzing, most of this would have been of no consequence, but add them all together and then you really have to fight off the cold grey feeling of British, winter, Sunday afternoon damp depression. We freely acknowledge that others may have had different experiences, but this was ours.

All in it all it seemed as if there were no 'extras' and the place was trying to be run on minimum cost and inertia. I may be wrong but this is how things seemed. The bar was always empty and unappealing in a town where everywhere looks inviting, cosy or even exciting. They did claim that the restaurant was I open at night but I saw no menus or boards and no diners. Breakfast was good, but the eggs were scrambled a sometimes dry. Usually at a four star rating there is a better selection and some one to smilingly cook your eggs the way you want them. Also I would like a choice as to whether I have soda water in my orange juice.