Die Swaene - Small Luxury Hotels  

"Die Swaene" is a magic dream. Beauty is everywhere, even when we were just walking up the stairs to our room. There is a magnificent, quiet lounge where I sat for a while, having a cold beer with delicious salty biscuits brought by the always friendly and helpful Ana Alice, a member of the excellent staff we met there. The location is perfect. It faces the canal in a quiet, residential area and yet is very close to the central market. A five minutes walk, I would say. The room was as beautiful as everywhere else in the hotel and the canal view was like a painting. It was a completely new experience to look at the canal whilst listening to the melodic bells of Bruges. We stayed in a deluxe room with canal view, in the old building.The bed was very comfortable. Bath and toilet facilities were clean and new. The memory of "Die Swaene" and Bruges is like a good dream and we don't want to wake up. There are plenty of modern chain hotels in Bruges that are impersonal and my feeling, whilst visiting that kind of hotels , was that I could actually be in a hotel in London, Sao Paulo, Berlin etc and wouldn't notice the difference. "Die Swaene" is not like that. It is a hotel that truly reflects the experience of being in a "fairy tale" medieval town. When you are in a hotel like "Die Swaine" you know that you are in Bruges.

The information provided by Booking.com is not clear enough. The hotel has two different buildings on opposite sides of the canal. We stayed in the old building. It was just in Bruges that I found out that the hotel actually consists of two buildings located in opposite sides of the canal and I would need to cross to the other side of the canal if I wanted to have a drink at the cafe terrace, which is located in the new building. Well, first thing we did when we arrived in the hotel, in the afternoon, was to cross the bridge and go to the cafe terrace. It was sunny and warm but the cafe terrace was closed! Then again, this is not specific of the hotel. It seems that short opening times of many bars and cafes are an odd characteristic of a touristic city such as Bruges.

The staff were friendly and always helpful. Nothing was too much much trouble for them. Very welcoming. I would recommend this hotel anybody travelling to Brugge

It was small, cosy and intimate without being too in your face. It was just about perfect for a romantic weekend in Brugge. Perhaps its best aspect is its location - in the centre of the city, but without the usual noise which can be associated with hotels in such places and we had a room on the ground floor!).

Some of the decor in the room could do with updating, but everything was in good working order. Tea and coffee making facililities in the room would be welcome. I would have preferred breakfast to have been included in the nightly room price rather than it being charged for separately (at 20 Euros per person).

1. All of the staff were so friendly and helpful. 2. The breakfast buffet was truly excellent with many home made items. One of the best buffet breakfasts of all hotels we have stayed in. 3. The rooms were comfortable and clean with antique furniture. 4. Towells were changed twice a day and the room tidied and cleaned. 5. The Pergola restaurant was excellent with a good menu. The wines, however, were prohibitively expensive.

The location was excellent and the staff very friendly. Breakfast room was lovely with a great selection in the buffet, and eggs cooked to order.

The only downside was the bathroom which was very dated. The water came out as a trickle and it would have taken ages to fill the bath. Other than that it was a good choice.

The staff were very friendly and the room was comfortable and had a lovely view of the canal outside the window. The hotel was also perfectly located.

Unfortunately we found a couple of things a little disappointing. The swimming pool and room the pool was in were rather cold. Also after the cold experience I was hoping for a hot shower in the area, however the showers only appeared to have cold water despite having a mixer tap. Our bathroom had only a detachable shower not one you could stand under and the ceiling had some nasty black marks on it (mold?). Also a dangerous swinging door which we trapped our fingers in. There were also no tea/coffee making facilities in the room. We felt it was over priced for the standard of the room, the decor and the pool facilities.

Good location, cheap car parking. Nice staff.

The room was oldfashined and furnitures were worn, poor quality. There wasn't hot water one of the evenings when we get back to the hotel.

Hotel was delightful, great location, staff were so friendly and so helpful. Swimming pool was great, room was fab. Breakfast was the best bit so much food. Just the whole stay was excellent and will return again soon. Thank you to all the staff.

Nothing the hotel was excellent.

The hotel was lovely with every room different. Staff incredibly friendly and attentive. The breakfast was a beautiful spread and the manager/chef encouraged me to try the cakes she had made. I went across the canal to the restaurant and new addition for a drink and was given a blanket to wrap around me because it was chilly. Amazing experience.

The bathrooms could use updating.

I hotel is great. The location is perfect. Very suitable for honeymoon.

The amenities in the bathroom is not so good. The cleanliness can be done better.

Worth the stay just for the atmosphere and the location. We were repeating our honeymoon night of 25 years ago.

The location was very central and convenient, and the room was very spacious. The view from the window was magnificent!

Just small things really: (1) The literature said there would be an additional charge for breakfast, so on the first morning we ate out. Later that day we were told that, because we had booked a superior deluxe room, there was no charge for breakfast. If we had known this we would have saved ourselves about 20 euros.(2) The literature said there was a safe in the room. There was no safe.(3) We asked for a double bed but had two singles pushed together. We didn't complain, but some would! (4) I didn't have the courage to ask if, as a "superior room" guest, the charge of 25 euros for the sauna would be overlooked, but I did feel that it was a bit exorbitant....

The view of the canal was lovely and the included breakfast was outstanding. The staff went out of their way to make our stay pleasant, they were friendly and helpful.

It was a little overpriced connsidering that it was pretty dated and has seen better days.