Hotel Brouwerij Het Anker

From the very beginning, our stay was tainted by the absolute lack of communication on the part of the hotel management, and the very out-of-date, poorly composed website. We depended mainly on the website for the information we needed to settle our travel plans, along with some info gleaned from Belgium travel guides. We were surprised to find, upon arrival at Het Anker, that contrary to the website information, we would be charged E15 per day for parking, 'down the street'. That was our first of many surprises attendant to our brief one-night visit in mid-June 2023. The second was that the 'coffeemaker' in the room was nothing more than a 'hot pot' contraption to boil water in, and the 'coffee' was simply a few packets of some instant concoction. On top of that, there was no cream or sugar in the room, and my multiple requests to the front desk (BTW, there is no room phone, you must physically walk to the desk...) to provide some extra coffee and condiments went completely ignored. Based upon the website information available at the time we booked, there were no brewery tours being offered (likely no site update since Covid?), however, upon our arrival, we noticed that tours were in fact being offered, just none available during out stay! Of course now it appears at least that portion of the website has been updated. In general, the rooms are small, and there is no A/C. The restaurant is nothing special, and we were very surprised to find that the fries they served with our fish and chips were not true Belgian-style fries, they were simply the frozen variety commonly found in the U.S. and other countries! What a disappointment! I would have to say, unless you are truly desirous of a 'stay-at-an-old-Belgian-brewery' experience, and are willing to forego many of the standard creature comforts associated with a hotel in this price range, you can likely do far better in the Mechelen area!

Great accommodation in town, particularly if you are interested in Belgium beer brewing, which was a highlight of all the attractions in Mehelen for me! The room was clean, quite and also the bathroom was nice and modern. It's about 10 minutes walk to the Grote Markt. The only thing we need to advise you is the advanced car park booking which we failed. the public car park is plentiful but still you need to walk down a little less than 10 min., we think. The restaurant offers intensive menu of food and beers, which we can also do recommend.