Sapphire House Antwerp: where we will sleep in Antwerp
Yes, but where are we going to sleep in Antwerp? So much choice... That may be true, but whoever follows our standard rules when choosing a hotel (1: location, location, location, 2: the eye also wants something, and 3: there better be a good restaurant or two, because after a day of walking we often don't have the strength to tour half the city and there is nothing (really nothing) better than being where the rest are coming/wanting to come and then straight into your delicious nest). Yes, anyone who keeps those three rules in mind will end up with the beautiful, new thing Sapphire House Antwerp.
The 16th-century corner house, characteristic of Antwerp standards, is called 'Den Grooten Robijn', a name the building owes to Antwerp's rich history of gemstone trading. Sapphire House Antwerp, a boutique hotel that is both grand and impressive (great in grandeur, history and size), as well as beautiful and intimate. The latter has worked so well thanks to the many corridors, height differences, sneak spaces and cozy seating areas. That 'beautiful' is due both to the already stately location and to the clever work of the designers Hugo Designers (the photos in this article are from their website – we couldn’t have done it better ourselves). Good to know is that the Sapphire House comes from the same source as Hotel The Den in Den Bosch and The Slaak in Rotterdam – both tips, that’s an aside. Certainly not ‘an aside’ is point three on our checklist: what is the restaurant like? Or, in this case: what are the restaurants like? There are two of them and they are, spoiler alert, great.
There are 139 rooms, a lounge, a gym, a cocktail bar, and not one but two very nice restaurants. Let's talk about that a little more. Immediately after checking in you encounter the informal restaurant PLANTn (at least... if you managed to resist the enormous semi-circular stairs to the top, because that's what we did first; up those stairs and especially - while walking - down them again). This restaurant, PLANTn, is also the place where you as a hotel guest will be served breakfast. Breakfast is buffet style, but the delicious breakfast dishes are prepared right in front of you. Be sure to hit the (vegan) pancakes not about, or the also vegan yoghurt with fresh fruit – a treat. The name already suggests: everything is here plant based. Well, almost everything. If you like an egg with your breakfast, you can simply order it. High marks for PLANTn, certainly, although not as high as at WILDn. Then fancy hotel restaurant. Everything here too plant based and oh so good. Reserve and thank me later.
The rooms are, to say the least, equally successful: spacious, equipped with fantastic beds (and a child's or baby cot can easily be added), there is fast and good WiFi (hello baby monitor!) and the bathrooms (at least in the suite where we slept) have a bath that you can almost swim in. O! If you book such a suite (ideal with kids), there is also a kitchenette (again: ideal with kids).
Are we fans? We won't be sleeping anywhere else in Antwerp anytime soon. So yes.
