Happy Guesthouse

We spent four nights at Sophie’s Happy Guesthouse in Brussels and recommend it for several reasons. First, it is conveniently located within a five minute walk of Brussels’ central train station. You don’t want or need to change accommodations every night. We stayed at the Happy Guesthouse for the duration of our time in Belgium while making daytrips to Bruges/ Ostend, Ghent, and Antwerp. Each is within an hour or so of the central station and the trains are regular, quick, comfortable, and reasonably priced. Second, Sophie and her staff made us very comfortable. Our room was small but it was comfortable, as was the bed. There is no elevator but that was not an issue for us. If you have concerns, request a room on a lower floor. And breakfast was consistently tasty with several options. Finally, Sophie and her staff were flexible. When we wanted to get an early start, they accommodated us by delivering breakfast to our room prior to the normal breakfast window. And when our departing flight was cancelled by Air Maroc on short notice, they accommodated us by allowing us to leave our luggage and to pick it up later in the day, after we had checked out and turned in our key. So, what more could one ask for?

We really enjoyed our time here, it’s a good location but quiet (the soundproofing on the windows is very good which blocks out the street noise). Sophie is a great host and provided us with lots of info. The breakfast was very nice, we particularly appreciated the homemade elements. It’s a short walk from the Centraal station. We would stay here again.

We stayed at happy guest house as a couple for 2 nights this week. When we arrived the access details given by email were easy to understand and we got our key and made it to our room. We were sharing a big suitcase and I didn’t see anywhere on their website a mention of the steep narrow spiral stairs. We stayed in room 3 and there are about 50 stairs to get there which are tricky to manoeuvre a suitcase up. Also very tiering each day- we dreaded them! If you are disabled I would not recommend these stairs. We went down for breakfast both days and the staff were super friendly and breakfast was really nice! Local jams, home made chocolate spread , local cheese , croissants and eggs. I could not fault it at all! They even took the time to talk to us about where the food had come from. The room itself was very clean and simple in a good way. Only negative about the room is there was no where to store suitcase so that did get in the way a little and also the bathroom was very small. The location was very central and once out the front door you are in walking distance of many pubs/restaurants and the train station which is very convenient. The only negative regarding location was down stairs there is a shop called dripper store and both nights there they were hosting a pop up shop. I don’t really know what it was for but about 100 people each night gathered there and were all drinking , one night from 6pm- 2am. They were making a lot of noise and we had to walk though them to get to the entrance to our accommodation. Also even though we were 3 floors up it was very noisy. I know this is no fault or happy guest house at all but was a shame for us as both nights we didn’t sleep that well. Lastly I think it would be nice to have a fan in each room as no AC and If the window is left open the noise from outside does make it hard to sleep again. When we visited it was between 20-26 degrees and it did get hot in the rooms.

I really enjoyed my stay. Hotel with lovely ambience & positive spirit - high quality service indeed. I'd like to add that hotel has a great location close to the main landmarks of the city. I especially liked my room with roof window and breakfast with some typical Belgian spread.

The breakfast staff was hard working and friendly. The breakfast was delightful. We had a clean modest room with a window that opened for ventilation (summer heat) and a bit of sharing of evening road noises. Sophie was very helpful suggesting interesting places to eat and even shared a recipe for a breakfast treat. Checking in can be a bit cumbersome...plan ahead.

So small, that it may be hard to find, an old building restorated, wall instalation is poor, could be problematic for those looking for some privacy. Some people may need more place, stairs are very steep and can be hard to climb and dangerous for the elderly, breakfast and , staff is nice and helpfull